---
title: "Choose a north star metric your team can actually move"
canonical_url: https://ampl.webclat.com/resources/north-star-metric-worksheet
description: "A free worksheet for choosing and decomposing a north star metric: the three tests, the input-metric tree, and the anti-gaming check."
source: Webclat | Amplitude Solutions (official Amplitude partner, independent consultancy)
---

# 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.

Published in full above - no email required.

## FAQ

### 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.