Vanity Metric
A number that looks good and tells you nothing.
Definition
A measure that rises reliably and does not inform any decision.
Craft convention. True because the industry converged on it. Breaking it costs familiarity, not correctness.
On this plate
In plain language
A number that looks good and tells you nothing.
Example
Cumulative registered users, which can only go up regardless of whether anyone uses the product.
Local chart
TERM·033 · Region X · Grid C6
This entry and the entries it is stated to connect with. Each line is labelled with what the connection means.
Continue from here
Each link says what the connection is, so you can tell a principle from an alternative from a thing people mix this up with.
Deeper reading
The full entry behind this definition.
- Survivorship BiasBIAS·010 · Cognitive bias
- Product AnalyticsRES·010 · Research method
Related concept
Connected closely enough to change how you apply this.
- North Star MetricTERM·032 · Term
Nearby in the Atlas
Adjacent territory, found through shared tags rather than a stated link.