Metrics are bad when they’re badly aligned or a vanity metric, but also meaningful metrics or even core metrics can be harmful.
- Good metrics can have unintended side effects when you measure and optomizie towards them.
- Metrics only capture things that can be quantified, be aware of the gap.
- Misaligned metrics can influence your decision making and redirect your attention away from your end goal.
- Vanity metrics can also give you false confidence and think you’re doing better then you actually are doing, or the opposite and demotivate you when they perform badly.
An example of harmful metrics could be webpage statistics when learning in the open.
Reference
Ries, Eric. The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses. 1st ed, Crown Business, 2011.
Highlights or timestamps
many startups give in to the temptation of using vanity metrics, flattering but useless or even harmful metrics that make a company look good but don’t help bring it closer to its goals.
— ^ecf005 from The Lean Startup