STEP 07 · SEVEN STEPS

Measure what matters, cut what doesn't

20 April 202610 min read

Every measurement is a belief. Here's how to choose the handful worth watching — and how to remove the rest.

A team that measures everything measures nothing. Each dashboard is a claim that the number matters; if the team doesn't act on it, the claim is false and the dashboard is debt. The seventh step is the quiet discipline of cutting.

Two questions for every metric

  1. If this number dropped 30% on Monday, what would we do by Friday?
  2. If the answer is "nothing specific," why is the number on a dashboard?

Most teams keep a handful of metrics where the answer to both questions is clear. The rest get archived. The product gets faster to navigate the moment the dashboards do.

"Every decision is a cut. The product is what's left after you remove what didn't carry weight."