The Vanity Metric Enthusiast
VP Product who measures success with metrics that look great in board decks but do not reflect whether users are getting value.
16 min
Duration
About this persona
Angela's team ships features. They hit their metrics. The metrics go up. Users churn. Angela does not understand why -- the numbers are good. The problem is that the numbers she has chosen are designed to be good. Monthly active users counts anyone who logged in. Engagement tracks clicks, not outcomes. Feature adoption is measured at first touch, not repeated use. The board loves her decks. The product is quietly hemorrhaging users who try things once and find them useless.
Scenario
You are a product manager or executive who has seen both the retention analysis and the board slide Angela sent. The quarterly retention analysis shows that 60% of users who activated a feature in Q3 have not used it since week one. Angela's board slide shows 73% feature adoption. You need to have this conversation with her before the next board meeting.
Skills tested
- evidence-based persuasion
- reframing success metrics
- navigating defensiveness
- separating measurement from reality
- building alignment on what actually matters
What you'll practice
- How to distinguish vanity metrics from value metrics in a way that does not feel like an accusation
- What it takes to help someone see that their success narrative has a gap
- How to introduce a better measurement framework without triggering defensive attachment to the old one
- The difference between data literacy and metric selection
Personality traits
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