CHAPTER EIGHTEENMeasuring Success: How to Know If Things Are Working
Connecting your department's activities and programs to business growth by measuring and reporting on the key performance indicators is a crucial aspect of your role as a startup leader. The real mission here is to bring a story to the data. No one cares about every single data point on your team, especially not your board. We've talked about how to report at the board level, linking the most important metrics in your department to business results. In this chapter, we focus on the leading and lagging indicators in your program.
WHO CARES ABOUT LEADING AND LAGGING INDICATORS?
Leading indicators are the gates on the downhill ski run that show you're hitting your marks and will have a successful finish. If you miss one, you may miss the big indicator. Tracking the leading indicators will allow you to course‐correct early, before something impacts your revenue, churn, or another growth number.
The lagging indicators are those numbers that usually make it onto your objective and key results (OKRs) slides. Leading indicators usually have a strong, quantifiable relationship to lagging indicators, meaning if you generate X% growth of one leading indicator, you can predict Y% growth of the lagging indicator.
Examples of leading indicators and their ...
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