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Choose a north star metric your team can actually move
A one-session worksheet: three candidate metrics, three tests each, one decomposition tree - and the anti-gaming check most frameworks skip.
The worksheet runs a leadership team through the choice in ninety minutes. It works because it forces disqualification, not brainstorming - most candidate metrics fail one of the three tests, and watching them fail is what builds conviction in the survivor.
The worksheet steps
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| 1. Candidates | Write three metrics that could represent delivered customer value. Revenue is banned from the list - it's the scoreboard, not the game. |
| 2. The value test | Could this number rise while users get less value? (Logins fail here.) If yes, strike it. |
| 3. The leading test | If this grew 20% this quarter, would revenue follow within two? If unclear, strike it. |
| 4. The influence test | Can a squad move it within a sprint through inputs they control? If not, strike or decompose. |
| 5. Decomposition | Break the survivor into breadth, frequency, depth, and efficiency inputs - each gets an owner. |
| 6. The anti-gaming check | Ask each squad how they'd inflate their input without helping users. Write the guardrail metric for every answer. |
Instrument the survivor and its inputs before announcing it - a north star nobody can chart within a week becomes a slogan. The tracking plan template covers exactly that instrumentation step.
In practice: New to the concept? Start with the glossary definition, then run the worksheet.
Frequently asked questions
Should every company have exactly one north star metric?+
One per product, not necessarily one per company - a multi-product org runs one tree per product plus a portfolio view. The discipline that matters is the decomposition and ownership, not the number one.
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