How to Figure out Metrics Ownership

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses a framework for defining and managing metric ownership within an organization. It covers three key steps: defining the different ownership types (own, share, shed), mapping the current and ideal ownership states for various metrics, and strategies for transitioning metrics to the ideal ownership state.

🙋 Q&A

[01] Defining Metric Ownership Types

1. What are the three main types of metric ownership described in the article?

• Own: The growth team has full accountability and responsibility for the metric
• Share: The growth team shares accountability and responsibility for the metric with other teams
• Shed: The growth team hands off or sheds accountability for the metric to another team

2. What key questions can be used to determine the current ownership state of a metric?

• Does anyone own this metric today?
• If we were to own it, would we need help to move it?
• What does that help look like?
• Do other teams have similar objectives with this metric?
• What does our impact on this metric look like?
• Are we operating our growth team in a centralized or decentralized fashion?

[02] Mapping Metric Ownership

1. How does the article recommend defining the "ideal" ownership state for a metric?

• Identify the company's North Star metric(s) and map the input metrics that ladder up to it
• Determine who currently owns each input metric and assess if that ownership is working well
• Use the questions from the previous section to determine the ideal ownership state (own, share, shed) for each input metric

2. What are some factors to consider when determining the ideal ownership state?

• Whether the growth team has the resources and capabilities to fully own and impact the metric
• Whether other teams have similar objectives and could share responsibility for the metric
• The growth team's ability to continue driving meaningful improvements to the metric over time

[03] Transitioning to the Ideal Ownership State

1. What are the key steps for the growth team to take ownership of a metric?

• Gain buy-in from leadership by demonstrating the metric's importance and a plan for experimentation and improvement
• Ensure the growth team has the necessary resources, either through new hires or borrowing teammates from other teams

2. How can the growth team effectively share ownership of a metric with another team?

• Collaborate on learning and exploration, such as joint experiment planning and hypothesis iteration
• Align on timelines, expectations, and company-wide objectives for the shared metric
• Engage leadership of both teams to support the shared ownership arrangement

3. What are the options when the growth team needs to shed ownership of a metric?

• Put the metric in "maintenance mode" if it has reached the end of its useful life
• Pause work on the metric if it is no longer a priority
• Transfer active ownership of the metric to another more suitable team, while providing support and guidance during the transition