Three Parts of a Metric

A wise PM from Facebook once taught me the most important trick to product execution interviews (and the metrics for success in a product design/sense interview) is explaining what the metric will actually measure. It is so simple I felt stupid not getting it on my own.

The Three Parts of a Metric

• The Measure (number, count, percentage, ratio)

• The User Action (clicked, read, booked.)

• The Time Period (session, day, week, month, quarter)

Now, anyone who doesn’t give me all three parts, I catch it immediately. I will admit when nervous, I may forget the time period, but I know better now.

Examples:

• # of daily active users

• Avg active listings per merchant per week

• # active Creators per day

• # video uploads watched per day

• # uploads with a reaction per week

• % of friends responding to a post daily

• # of overall meaningful connections

• % of overall meaningful connections driven by Stories Weekly