metrics-definition

The Core Problem

"47 dashboards and no answers." The failure mode is building metrics without agreeing on what they mean. "Revenue" means three different things to three different teams. "Active users" has no agreed-upon time window. Fix the definitions before building the dashboards.

Metric Definition Template

Every metric must specify:

• Name: Human-readable, follows naming convention (see below)
• Business definition: One sentence a non-technical person understands
• SQL logic: Exact calculation including numerator, denominator, and filters
• Grain: What level is this calculated at? (daily, weekly, per-user, per-account)
• Time window: What period does this cover? (trailing 7 days, calendar month, since signup)
• Dimensional attributes: What can you slice this by? (region, product line, customer segment)
• Owner: Who maintains this definition?
• Update cadence: How often does this refresh?
• Known edge cases: What situations produce unexpected results?

NEVER define a metric without specifying grain and time window. "Monthly active users" means nothing until you define what "active" means and whether "monthly" is calendar month or trailing 30 days.