Instrumentation Spec

An instrumentation spec defines what analytics events to track, when to fire them, and what properties to include. It serves as a contract between product and engineering, ensuring consistent data collection that enables accurate measurement. Good instrumentation specs prevent the "we can't answer that question because we didn't track it" problem.

When to Use

• Before engineering implements a new feature
• When defining analytics requirements for experiments
• When auditing existing tracking for gaps or inconsistencies
• When onboarding a new analytics tool
• Before launch to ensure measurement is in place

When NOT to Use

• You are specifying the dashboard built on top of the events -> use measure-dashboard-requirements
• You need experiment-specific metrics and variants, not product-wide tracking -> use measure-experiment-design
• The feature itself is not yet specified (no flows to instrument) -> use deliver-prd first
• You are analyzing data you already collect -> use measure-experiment-results or measure-survey-analysis