Short term goals · Leading indicators · Component
The indicator set
The chosen leading measures, each paired with the lagging outcome it is meant to predict.
The deliverable
What it is
A leading indicator is only leading relative to something. Recording the pairing is what stops a set of indicators becoming a dashboard of numbers with no stated purpose.
The lag matters: an indicator that leads by a week is operationally useful, one that leads by two quarters is strategically useful, and they are not interchangeable.
One level in
What it is made of
Each element is a constituent part of the component. Follow one to see the attributes it carries.
The pairings
Each leading measure with the lagging outcome it predicts.
3 attributes: Leading measure · Lagging outcome · Lag
LearnThe thresholds
What movement in the leading measure counts as a signal.
2 attributes: Signal threshold · Normal range
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An indicator with no stated response should be removed. Watching a number nobody would act on costs attention and buys nothing.
The other components in leading indicators
The causal assumption
The stated reason for believing the leading measure actually leads to the outcome — written down so it can be tested rather than merely believed.
LearnThe tracking cadence
How often each indicator is read and by whom — frequent enough to act on, rare enough to mean something.
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