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AnalyticsLeadership5 min read
The metric that gamed itself
Goodhart's law in your own company: every metric you set as a target eventually becomes optimized against, regardless of whether the underlying thing improved.
Set a metric as a target. Within a quarter, the team finds a way to move the metric that doesn't move the underlying outcome. Set a new metric, same thing happens. This isn't bad-faith behavior; it's how optimizing systems work.
Examples of metrics gaming themselves
- "Time to first response" — gets gamed by auto-responders that count.
- "Number of features shipped" — gets gamed by tiny ships marked complete.
- "NPS" — gets gamed by timing the survey carefully.
- "PR review time" — gets gamed by reviewers approving without reading.
How to make metrics resilient
Pair every metric with a counter-metric that catches the gaming. "Time to first response" paired with "time to actual resolution." "Features shipped" paired with "adoption per feature." The pair is harder to game than either alone.
Every metric gets gamed. The discipline is choosing pairs that game-protect each other.