Rethink your metrics and measure the entire value chain when developing products

Imagine your team has been churning out features for months. Everything’s running smoothly, tasks are flying into done, and there’s cake and applause every Friday.

Then one day, someone on the team whispers: "Are we actually solving a real problem for our customers, and are we creating value for the business with all the things we’re racing around working on most of our waking hours?"

Silence.

It’s becoming increasingly clear in product development teams and organizations that we need to measure how things are going – both in terms of the development process itself and the impact our products have.

Product development is unpredictable. It’s impossible to calculate exactly what it takes to create the desired value for our users, customers, and ultimately the company’s bottom line. Even so, measurement and metrics are still not very mature in many organizations. Most measure something – but is it the right thing, and is it enough?

In this article, I’ll take a step back and look at measurement and metrics in digital product development from a broader perspective. I’ll give you an overview of the key areas to measure, how they connect – and concrete examples of what might be relevant for you, your team, and your organization to keep an eye on.

It’s a real strength when someone on the team takes the lead and pushes for more data-informed decisions. But there’s also a risk that the measurements end up reflecting that person’s perspective and focus – rather than offering a more balanced view of the bigger picture.

Is your measurement one-sided?

Getting started with metrics can be tricky – especially when it comes to choosing the ones that truly matter and are worth acting on. That’s why many teams either end up not measuring at all, or end up measuring in a way that’s too narrow and one-dimensional.

It’s a real strength when someone on the team takes the lead and pushes for more data-informed decisions. But there’s also a risk that the measurements end up reflecting that person’s perspective and focus – rather than offering a more balanced view of the bigger picture.

Speaking broadly, you could say that:

• Software developers often focus on technical quality and DevOps metrics
• Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches look at flow and delivery capability
• UX designers prioritize user experience
• Product Managers and Product Owners focus on the product’s market success
• Business stakeholders and the C-level typically focus on financial KPIs and organizational conditions

The problem arises when the measurements become too narrow and fail to capture the connections between development, customer experience, and business outcomes.

View metrics in a broader context

You can look at product development as a chain of prerequisites for success – from the conditions and resources you put into it, all the way to the business impact it creates.

We can break down measurement in product development into six overarching categories:

• Input
• Efficiency
• Output and quality
• Customer outcom
• Product outcome (which is a prerequisite for the next)
• Business outcome

Let's walk through each category with a few examples of what they might include.

To make it more concrete, I’ll introduce an imaginary fitness app called GoFit. For each category, I’ll share examples of which metrics might be relevant if your product were, for instance, a fitness app designed to help users get in shape.

Input

Input covers the resources we invest in product development and the conditions surrounding it. Traditionally, this includes people, their skills and time, but also things like technology, external requirements, the operating model, and so on. Essentially, it’s anything that influences the "product development system".

Examples of meaningful metrics here include people and time, utilization of technology like cloud resources and servers, and organizational factors.

Examples, GoFit:

• Number of work hours per week allocated to GoFit → Measures how much capacity is actually being invested in developing and improving the product.
• Cloud costs per active user → Are we keeping costs like video streaming and data storage in balance with our user base?
• License costs for training content → How much are we paying for access to certified training programs or collaborations with fitness experts?

Efficiency

Efficiency is about activities and flow – in other words, being effective in product development, with much inspiration drawn from Lean. It’s about quickly and efficiently delivering finished product increments to our customers and users, for example by optimizing the process from idea to finished product. Good examples of what we measure here include how long it takes to complete a task once it’s started (cycle time), the number of parallel tasks in progress (work in progress), “time on product,” and reducing waste during development (such as wait times, overproduction, defects, unused knowledge, etc.).

Examples, GoFit:

• Time from idea to a new training feature going live in the app (Lead Time) → How quickly can we launch a new type of training program or challenge?
• Number of user tests or experiments conducted per month → Are we actively testing what works best for users, e.g., through A/B testing onboarding flows?
• Share of completed features that don’t require revisions → A measure of how well we deliver quality from the start.

Output and Quality

Under Output and Quality, we measure the product itself and the quality of what we produce. This helps us assess the current state, but also serves as a leading indicator of the product’s future potential. Examples include stability in terms of reported bugs and outages, the complexity of the software’s code and architecture (and thus its maintainability and scalability), as well as usability and other aspects of the user experience.

Examples, GoFit:

• Crash rate (number of crashes per 1,000 sessions) → How stable is the app during, for example, live-streamed workout sessions?
• Load time on training videos → How quickly does a video start playing when the user presses ‘play’?
• Usability score from user tests (e.g., SUS score) → How do users experience the navigation and design?‍‍‍

Customer Outcome

Without customer value, there is no successful product. It’s essential that the product we create meets a need and delivers value to customers and users. Otherwise, why would they use it – and stick with it over time? But how do we measure customer value?

Customer value can come from solving functional needs – like completing a specific task faster or making a process more efficient. But it can also exist on an emotional level, where the product not only addresses a practical need but also evokes a feeling.

An example could be a product that’s fun to use, creates motivation, helps the customer present themselves in a certain way, or even inspires hope for a better future by supporting sustainability or climate action. We often tend to (over)focus on the functional side and overlook the emotional value that makes a product "sticky" and keeps users coming back.

Examples, GoFit:

• Average number of workout sessions per user per week → How active are users, and do they return regularly?
• Completion rate on training programs → How many users finish the programs they start?
• Percentage of users who feel they reach their training goals (measured via survey) → Shows whether GoFit is actually helping users achieve what they came for.‍‍

Product Outcome

Product outcome can also be described as the product’s ability to succeed in the market through customer behavior. We measure how well the product attracts attention and brings in new users. We look at its ability to engage customers, retain their usage over time, and potentially generate new users through referrals. So we distinguish between the product’s ability to create value for the customer (customer outcome), and the resulting impact of that value creation in terms of how well the product performs in the market (product outcome).

Examples, GoFit:

• Number of new registered users per month → Are we continuously attracting new users to the platform?
• 30-day retention rate → How many of the new users keep using the app after one month?
• Share of users who recommend GoFit (measured via NPS and self-reported referrals) → Shows both how willing users are to recommend the app (Net Promoter Score) and how many new users actually join based on recommendations.

Business Outcome

What does success look like from a business perspective? If the product gets a ton of downloads (product outcome) but no one’s willing to pay for it (business outcome), we’ve got a potential problem. The products we build need to positively impact the business and the bottom line.

Business outcome typically focuses on the product’s commercial impact – things like revenue and profit, costs, margins, and market share.

Success at the business outcome level becomes a prerequisite for reinvesting more “input” into the product – it needs to be viable and sustainable. In short, it has to be profitable.

Examples, GoFit:

• Revenue from subscriptions (e.g., premium access to extra training programs) → How much are we earning from paying users?
• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) → What does it cost us to acquire a new paying user through ads or partnerships?
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) → How much is an average user worth to GoFit over time?

Now think about your own product

If you were to map your team’s or organization’s current metrics in the same way, where would you be missing insight?

Here’s an exercise you can try with your own team or department: take your existing metrics and place them into the six categories. Do you see any gaps? Are you measuring too one-sidedly? What could you add to get a more balanced view of your product development?

By making sure your metrics cover all aspects of product success, you’ll build a stronger foundation for decision-making – and increase your chances of creating a product that’s efficient, value-driven, and commercially sustainable.

Frameworks and tools to improve your metrics

To get started working with your product and team metrics, you might want to look at some existing frameworks for inspiration on which metrics could be relevant for you and your team. A few examples include:

• North Star Metric Framework – for defining the core metric that drives growth
• DORA Metrics – for measuring software development efficiency
• HEART Framework from Google – for evaluating user experience

Enjoy diving deeper into the world of metrics – I promise it’s worth it!

🆕 COMING UP: Sign up for the webinar on metrics (In danish)
On June 17, we’re hosting a webinar where you can learn more about how to create meaningful metrics: Read more and sign up for the webinar

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