# North Star Metrics > Define and align around North Star metrics. Use when choosing or refining the primary metric that drives product decisions. - **Type:** Skill - **Install:** `agentstack add skill-uthumany-uthy-legacy-os-north-star-metrics` - **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior - **Seller:** [uthumany](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/uthumany) - **Installs:** 0 - **Category:** [Data & Analytics](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/data-and-analytics) - **Latest version:** 0.1.0 - **License:** MIT - **Upstream author:** [uthumany](https://github.com/uthumany) - **Source:** https://github.com/uthumany/uthy-legacy-os/tree/main/skills/measuring/north-star-metrics - **Website:** https://uthumany.github.io/uthy-legacy-os/ ## Install ```sh agentstack add skill-uthumany-uthy-legacy-os-north-star-metrics ``` Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent. ## About # North Star Metrics ## Overview A North Star metric is the single metric that best captures the value your product delivers to users. It aligns the entire organization around a shared goal, prevents sub-optimization, and guides prioritization. This skill helps you define, validate, and operationalize a North Star metric. ## When to Use - Defining the primary success metric for your product - Aligning the team around a shared goal - Replacing conflicting or confusing metrics - You've outgrown vanity metrics and need a real North Star - Don't use for: short-term campaign measurement, evaluating a single feature, a product with multiple distinct use cases (use a metric tree instead) ## Instructions ### 1. Understand What Makes a Good North Star A North Star metric should be: - **Customer value-focused**: Measures value delivered, not value captured - **Leading indicator**: Predicts long-term business success - **Actionable**: Teams can directly influence it - **Understandable**: Anyone in the company can explain it - **Resistant to gaming**: Hard to improve without delivering real value ### 2. Identify Candidates Brainstorm 3-5 candidates. Common types: - **Engagement**: Daily Active Users, Weekly Active Teams, Messages Sent - **Outcome**: Time-to-Value, Tasks Completed, Content Created - **Retention**: Day 7 Retention, Active User Rate - **Revenue**: Average Revenue Per User (only if tightly linked to value) For each candidate, ask: - If this metric goes up, does it mean users are getting more value? - If this metric goes up, will the business succeed? - Can every team influence this, even indirectly? ### 3. Evaluate Against Counter-Metrics For every North Star candidate, define: - **What could go up while the North Star goes up, but is actually bad?** - Example: Messages Sent goes up, but message quality goes down and spam increases - These are your counter-metrics — you MUST track them alongside the North Star ### 4. Test with Real Data Before committing: - Pull 6 months of historical data for candidates - Check correlation with business outcomes (revenue, retention, LTV) - Test sensitivity: Does the metric move when you ship something good? - Check volatility: Is it too noisy to be useful for weekly decisions? ### 5. Operationalize Once chosen: 1. **Communicate**: Why this metric? Why now? What are the counter-metrics? 2. **Dashboard**: Put it on every team dashboard 3. **Goals**: Set quarterly targets with stretch goals 4. **Review**: Weekly check-in on North Star + counter-metrics 5. **Evolve**: As the product matures, the North Star may change ## Sample Output **Product**: Team collaboration tool **North Star**: Weekly Active Teams (teams that update project status at least once/week) **Why**: Captures the core value (teams staying aligned) better than DAU (individual usage) or messages sent (inflatable) **Counter-metric**: Team member burnout (measured by after-hours updates) **Target**: Increase from 10K to 15K weekly active teams by Q4 **Dashboard**: North Star shown prominently, segmented by team size and plan type ## Common Pitfalls 1. **Vanity North Star** — DAU for a product where daily use isn't the goal (e.g., tax software) 2. **Revenue as North Star** — Revenue measures value captured, not value delivered. Good for business, bad for product direction 3. **No counter-metrics** — Every North Star metric can be gamed. Counter-metrics protect against this 4. **Too many North Stars** — If you have 5 "North Star" metrics, you have none 5. **Never changing** — Your product evolves. Your North Star should evolve too. Revisit annually ## Source & license This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code. - **Author:** [uthumany](https://github.com/uthumany) - **Source:** [uthumany/uthy-legacy-os](https://github.com/uthumany/uthy-legacy-os) - **License:** MIT - **Homepage:** https://uthumany.github.io/uthy-legacy-os/ Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above. ## Pricing - **Free** — Free ## Security capabilities Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access: - **Network access:** no - **Filesystem access:** no - **Shell / process execution:** no - **Environment & secrets:** no - **Dynamic code execution:** no *"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.* ## Versions - **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source. ## Links - Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-uthumany-uthy-legacy-os-north-star-metrics - Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/uthumany - Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse --- Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.