Writing North Star Metrics

Scope

Covers

• Defining or refreshing a product/company North Star and North Star Metric
• Translating a qualitative value model into measurable, decision-useful metrics
• Creating a simple driver tree: leading input/proxy metrics + guardrails
• Producing a “North Star Metric Pack” teams can use as a decision tie-breaker

When to use

• “We need one metric that defines success.”
• “Teams are optimizing different KPIs.”
• “We’re setting quarterly OKRs and need leading indicators.”
• “We’re launching a new strategy and need a metric that aligns decisions.”

When NOT to use

• You only need OKRs for an already-agreed North Star -> use setting-okrs-goals
• You need a full analytics taxonomy/event tracking plan from scratch