North Star Metric
A North Star Metric is the outcome that best captures the lasting value your product or team creates. In a decision-ready dashboard, it anchors the structure: everything else exists to explain, support, or qualify it.
What we mean by “North Star Metric”
A North Star Metric is a single, clearly defined outcome that your team agrees should not be optimised away. It connects day-to-day decisions to long-term value, and provides the “why” behind the dashboard. It is not a vanity number or a temporary campaign goal.
Why this changes how people read a dashboard
Without a clear North Star Metric, dashboards become collections of local KPIs. Decisions optimise for whichever metric is loudest today, even if that quietly harms the real outcome you care about.
- Teams argue about trade-offs without a shared understanding of which outcome matters most.
- Short-term fixes that “improve a KPI” can erode retention, trust, or unit economics over time.
When you will feel this term in real life
You feel the absence of a North Star Metric when dashboard debates have no clear reference point.
- False alignment — everyone says they agree on the goal, but in practice they optimise different metrics.
- Too many KPIs — dozens of metrics compete for attention because nothing is clearly named as the main outcome.
A good North Star Metric is specific enough to guide trade-offs, but stable enough that you do not have to rename it every quarter.
See this term in context
The role of a North Star Metric is expanded in:
Related terms in this glossary
North Star Metric is closely connected to:
Before redesigning a dashboard, it is often worth agreeing on the North Star Metric first. It tells you which numbers deserve a permanent place.