Glossary
Metric
A metric is any measurement your systems can produce: page views, tickets closed, average order value, headcount, days since the last accident. It becomes a KPI only when a person owns it, a goal sits beside it and a meeting expects an answer. Metrics are cheap and endless. KPIs are the few you have decided to be accountable for.
01
Why most metrics never belong on the weekly board
Metrics live in reports, and the weekly Scorecard holds only the ones the team will act on. The practical filter is to ask what decision would change if the number halved this week. If the honest answer is none, it stays a metric and stays in the report. Departments keep longer lists underneath, which is where the detail belongs.
Confusing the two is how a board gets to forty rows. Software makes metrics free, so the constraint is attention rather than collection. A leadership team can hold five to fifteen numbers in its head between meetings, and every row past that takes weight away from the rest. Naming the difference out loud gives people permission to delete.
Worked example: A regional insurance brokerage pulled a weekly report with sixty-two figures in it. Reading each one against the halving test left nine. Renewal rate stayed, because a bad week triggers phone calls that afternoon. Average email open rate went, because nobody could name an action attached to it. The full report still runs and is read once a month by one person.
Sources: kpi.org/kpi-basics; klipfolio.com/resources/kpi-examples
KPI
A KPI is a number a leadership team has agreed to run the business by: one owner, a goal written next to it, and a slot on the weekly agenda.
02Vanity metric
A vanity metric is a number that reliably goes up, feels good to report, and changes no decision: page views, followers, total signups since launch.
03Dashboard
A dashboard is a screen showing current values for a set of metrics, usually pulled automatically and refreshed on its own.
04KPIs: what they are, how many to track, and which matter
A practical guide to key performance indicators for small companies: definitions, leading vs lagging measures, examples by department, and how many to track.
Start with a real question
Not sure which of these you actually need?
Tell us what the leadership team is arguing about. A person replies within one business day with a straight answer, whether that is a book, a tool or an implementer.
A person reads every one.