Escape the Dashboard Delusion
Your metrics are telling you "what", but not "why"
Directive
Pick one key metric that changed last week and ask "Why?" five times.
Why It Matters
We're surrounded by dashboards that tell us what happened: user engagement dipped 3%, sign-ups are up 5%. We celebrate or panic accordingly, but we rarely get to the root cause. Digging deeper turns you from a score-keeper into a problem-solver.
For example: "Engagement is down." Why? "Users are leaving faster." Why? "The new search feature gives them the answer on the first click." Why is that a bad thing? Exactly. You might discover your "problem" is actually a massive success. The drop in engagement isn't a sign of a failing product; it's a symptom of a brilliantly efficient one. You have successfully saved your user their most valuable asset: time.
Action Item
Grab a teammate. Put your most interesting metric on a whiteboard. Ask the first "Why?" and write down the answer. Then, point to that answer and ask "Why?" again. Repeat the process five times. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you move from a high-level number to a core insight about customer behavior or a flaw in your system.
Words to Work By
"The important thing is not to stop questioning." - Albert Einstein
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