Leading vs Lagging Indicators

Summary

Leading indicators predict future outcomes (e.g. weekly active usage), lagging indicators confirm what already happened (e.g. quarterly revenue) — good metric design needs both.

How to Learn This

1Classify 5 common product metrics as leading or lagging.
2Identify a leading indicator you could influence this week for a real goal.
3Learn why teams that only track lagging indicators react too late.

North Star Metric Design

Funnel Analysis

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