Product & Analytics / Product Strategy
North-Star vs Guardrail Metric ~ (also "OMTM / one metric that matters"; guardrail = "counter-metric")
The single metric a team optimizes toward (the north star) and the metrics that must not degrade while it does (guardrails).
The fork, why two teams get different numbers
What KIND of object the north star is, is contested.
In the Metric Library
- The full fork, both definitions worked all the way through
- The trap that makes the number lie, on a real export
- Every formula variant, spelled out
- The reconciliation anchor, what to tie it to and when to refuse
Reference: Product-analytics convention (no governing body); Goodhart's law and non-inferiority testing cited as reference