writing-north-star-metrics

Compare original and translation side by side

🇺🇸

Original

English

🇨🇳

Translation

Chinese

Writing North Star Metrics

撰写北极星指标

Help the user define their North Star metric using frameworks and insights from 27 product leaders.

借助27位产品负责人的框架和见解，帮助用户定义他们的北极星指标。

How to Help

如何提供帮助

When the user asks for help with North Star metrics:

Understand the value - Ask what specific value the product delivers to users (not revenue or internal activity)
Test for simplicity - Ensure the metric can be understood and discussed by anyone in the company
Check for actionability - Confirm teams can actually influence this metric through their work
Add guardrails - Help them identify countervailing metrics that prevent gaming

当用户请求北极星指标相关帮助时：

理解核心价值 - 询问产品为用户提供的具体价值是什么（而非收入或内部活动）
验证简洁性 - 确保公司内任何人都能理解并讨论该指标
检查可操作性 - 确认团队能够通过实际工作影响该指标
设置防护措施 - 帮助他们识别可防止指标作弊的制衡指标

Core Principles

核心原则

Measure value delivered, not captured

衡量交付的价值，而非获取的价值

Itamar Gilad: "The North Star metric measures how much value we create for the market. WhatsApp measured messages sent because every message is incremental value. Airbnb used nights booked." Select a metric that tracks core utility provided to the customer, not business extraction.

Itamar Gilad："北极星指标用于衡量我们为市场创造的价值。WhatsApp以发送消息数为指标，因为每条消息都代表增量价值；Airbnb则使用预订晚数。" 选择能够追踪为客户提供的核心效用的指标，而非企业获取的利益。

Avoid lagging indicators

避免滞后指标

Jess Lachs: "Retention is a terrible thing to goal on. It's almost impossible to drive in a meaningful way in a short term. Find a short-term metric you can measure that drives a long-term output." Identify proxy metrics that are sensitive to experimentation and correlate with long-term goals.

Jess Lachs："将留存率作为目标是不可取的。几乎不可能在短期内对其产生有意义的影响。找到一个可衡量的短期指标，它能够驱动长期成果。" 确定对实验敏感且与长期目标相关的替代指标。

Simple beats sophisticated

简洁胜于复杂

Jess Lachs: "If people understand it, if they have an intuition around it, if it's something people can talk about across the company, it's going to be a much better metric than your made up composite score that nobody understands." Avoid composite metrics with complex coefficients.

Jess Lachs："如果人们能够理解它、对它有直观认知，并且全公司的人都能讨论它，那它会比你编造的没人能懂的复合分数指标要好得多。" 避免使用带有复杂系数的复合指标。

Measure from the customer's perspective

从客户视角衡量

Jeff Weinstein: "What was the value we're trying to produce for the customer, and can we measure it from their perspective? We suggested 'companies with zero support tickets.'" Define metrics based on the absence of friction or the presence of success moments.

Jeff Weinstein："我们试图为客户创造什么价值？我们能否从客户的视角来衡量它？我们曾提出‘零支持工单的企业’这一指标。" 基于无摩擦体验或成功时刻的存在来定义指标。

A high-level mission simplifies decisions

高层使命简化决策

Hari Srinivasan: "Everything at LinkedIn is a very connected ecosystem, but decisions aren't difficult because we're all here to help people connect to economic opportunity." A clear company-wide mission serves as the ultimate tie-breaker for product decisions.

Hari Srinivasan："LinkedIn的所有业务都是紧密相连的生态系统，但决策并不困难，因为我们所有人都致力于帮助人们获得经济机会。" 清晰的公司层面使命可作为产品决策的最终决胜因素。

Name metrics evocatively

为指标赋予有感染力的名称

Jeff Weinstein: "Picking metric titles that make you feel something. 'Companies with zero support' - the brevity and customer mindset built into the chart name can become currency inside the company." Use simple, evocative names instead of technical database field names.

Jeff Weinstein："选择能让人产生共鸣的指标名称。‘零支持工单的企业’——这种简洁且以客户为中心的图表名称会在公司内部成为通用术语。" 使用简单、有感染力的名称，而非技术化的数据库字段名。

Codify definitions precisely

精准明确指标定义

Manik Gupta: "Everyone will talk about the same metric but have different nuances. What is a daily active user? Pick a definition, instrument it, codify it. No confusion." Metrics only drive alignment when backed by precise definitions and accurate instrumentation.

Manik Gupta："每个人谈论同一个指标时，可能会有不同的理解。什么是日活跃用户？选定一个定义，部署监测，将其明确化。避免混淆。" 只有依托精准的定义和准确的监测，指标才能推动团队对齐。

Select a hard activation metric

选择高标准的激活指标

Lauryn Isford: "An activation rate that falls in a lower percentage range, maybe 5-15%, is better than a high percentage because it means there's likely much higher correlation with long-term retention." High-bar activation metrics that few users reach are often more valuable.

Lauryn Isford："处于较低百分比区间（如5-15%）的激活率比高百分比的更好，因为这通常意味着它与长期留存率的相关性更高。" 只有少数用户能达到的高标准激活指标往往更有价值。

Revisit periodically

定期重新审视

Lauryn Isford: "A North Star metric should be a measure of what you plan to do. Revisit North Star metrics every 6-12 months to ensure they still align with business goals." Be willing to shift metrics if the strategy requires it.

Lauryn Isford："北极星指标应衡量你计划要做的事情。每6-12个月重新审视北极星指标，确保它仍与业务目标保持一致。" 如果战略调整，要愿意更换指标。

Avoid revenue as North Star

避免将收入作为北极星指标

Sean Ellis: "I think monthly purchases is great because it maps to value people are getting. Units of value from the customer perspective is more important than overall revenue." Revenue should be a product of doing things right, not the day-to-day guiding metric.

Sean Ellis："我认为月度购买量是很好的指标，因为它与用户获得的价值直接相关。从客户视角出发的价值单位比整体收入更重要。" 收入应该是正确行动的结果，而非日常的指导指标。

Questions to Help Users

用于引导用户的问题

"What specific moment represents a user getting value from your product?"
"Could a non-technical person in your company understand and discuss this metric?"
"Can teams actually influence this metric through their work in a quarter?"
"What would happen if you gamed this metric - what would break?"
"Does this metric measure value delivered to users or value extracted from them?"
"Is this a leading indicator or a lagging one that's hard to move?"

"什么具体时刻代表用户从你的产品中获得了价值？"
"公司里的非技术人员能否理解并讨论这个指标？"
"团队能否在一个季度内通过实际工作影响这个指标？"
"如果有人试图操纵这个指标，会出现什么问题？"
"这个指标衡量的是交付给用户的价值，还是从用户那里获取的价值？"
"这是一个领先指标，还是难以改变的滞后指标？"

Common Mistakes to Flag

需要指出的常见错误

Revenue as North Star - Revenue is an outcome; focus on the customer value that drives it
Complex composite metrics - If you can't explain it simply, teams can't rally around it
Lagging indicators like retention - Find the leading metrics that predict retention
Gaming vulnerability - Add countervailing metrics to prevent optimization that hurts users
Undefined terms - 'Active user' means nothing until you codify exactly what counts

将收入作为北极星指标 - 收入是结果；应聚焦于驱动收入的客户价值
复杂的复合指标 - 如果你无法简单解释它，团队就无法围绕它团结起来
留存率等滞后指标 - 找到能够预测留存率的领先指标
易被操纵的风险 - 添加制衡指标，防止为了优化指标而损害用户利益
未明确的术语 - 在明确定义‘活跃用户’的具体标准之前，这个词毫无意义

Deep Dive

深入研究

For all 35 insights from 27 guests, see

references/guest-insights.md

如需了解27位嘉宾的全部35条见解，请查看

references/guest-insights.md