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What I track and what I don't
A short list of the metrics I keep close, the ones I deliberately ignore, and the test I use to decide.
The dashboard on my second monitor has four numbers on it. The product I am building generates about forty. The other thirty-six I deliberately do not look at.
What I track#
- Returning users on day seven, because that is the only number that predicts the next month for me.
- Sessions per returning user per week, because frequency tells me whether the loop is working, separately from whether anyone is showing up at all.
- One qualitative read per week — three messages, three calls, or three screen recordings.
- My own cash runway, in months, recalculated on the first of every month.
That is it.
What I do not track#
Vanity signups. App store installs without a return. Social impressions. Total time in app. Anything labelled "engagement" that does not have a return visit in its definition. Anything I cannot influence in the next two weeks.
The test I use#
When a number changes, can I do something different next Monday? If yes, it goes on the dashboard. If no, it lives in a folder I open once a quarter, if at all.
Most of the metrics I used to track failed this test the moment I asked.