1.3 Understanding Metrics
Time: ~20 minutes
What You'll Learn
- The difference between vanity metrics and actionable metrics
- Leading indicators vs lagging indicators and why it matters
- How to evaluate whether a metric actually measures what it claims to
- Common metrics in business and what they really tell you (and what they hide)
Key Concepts
Not all numbers are created equal. A metric can be perfectly accurate and still completely useless for making decisions.
This lesson covers:
- Vanity metrics -- numbers that look impressive but don't drive decisions (page views, total signups, social media followers)
- Actionable metrics -- numbers that tell you what to do next (conversion rate, churn rate, revenue per customer)
- Leading vs lagging -- the difference between metrics that predict the future and metrics that report the past
- Context dependence -- why the same number can be great or terrible depending on your benchmark
Claude will work through examples from your industry and help you identify which metrics in your own work are signal and which are noise.
How to Start
Open Claude Desktop and say:
start lesson 1.3Skills You'll Use Later
- Metric evaluation (essential for Module 2's data-to-narrative work)
- Identifying what to measure (helps when building reusable analysis workflows)
- Questioning default dashboards (a skill you'll use every day)