Metric Definition Lock (Onboarding)

Metric Definition Lock (Onboarding)

1. 01

   Interview the executive sponsor separately from the day-to-day client contact

   Sponsors name revenue, margin, and retention goals; practitioners name activity counts. Reconcile both lists before any dashboard build starts, because a dashboard that satisfies only one audience gets abandoned within a quarter.

2. 02

   Write a one-line decision statement for every metric requested

   Format: 'This number tells [role] whether to [action].' Any metric that cannot complete the sentence gets cut from version one rather than deferred to a backlog nobody revisits.

3. 03

   Map each surviving metric to a named source system and refresh cadence

   Record whether the number comes from the CRM, the ad platform, the finance ledger, or a spreadsheet maintained by one person. Flag single-owner spreadsheets as delivery risk before build, not after.

4. 04

   Set the reporting grain and comparison window per metric

   Daily spend, weekly pipeline, and monthly retainer margin do not belong on the same axis. State the grain explicitly so the client cannot read a daily wobble as a trend.

5. 05

   Confirm the definition of every ratio with the client's finance owner

   Cost per acquisition, return on ad spend, and gross margin each have two or three defensible formulas. Pick one, document it, and store the formula next to the tile.

6. 06

   Freeze version one at a maximum of twelve tiles

   A leadership view that needs scrolling stops being a leadership view. Move everything else to a drill-down page that the account lead owns.

7. 07

   Get written sign-off on the metric dictionary before engineering begins

   A signed dictionary is the artifact that ends scope arguments at week six, when a stakeholder asks why a familiar number moved.