Check whether my KPIs measure activity or real value, and fix them
Sorts your KPIs into activity, output, and outcome measures, flags vanity metrics, and redesigns the set around the outcomes that matter.
The prompt
Review my KPIs, tell me which measure activity and which measure actual value, and redesign them around outcomes.
Team or function: [WHAT WE DO and who we serve]
Current KPIs: [PASTE THE LIST with definitions and targets if you have them]
What the business needs from us: [e.g. "faster hiring of quality candidates", "fewer customer escalations"]
How KPIs are used: [team reviews / bonuses / leadership reporting]
Steps:
1. Classify each KPI:
- Activity: effort spent (calls made, tickets touched, hours, meetings held).
- Output: things produced (reports delivered, features shipped).
- Outcome: change in value for the customer or business (retention, cycle time, revenue, error rate, satisfaction).
2. Flag vanity metrics: numbers that can rise while results stay flat or get worse.
3. For each activity or output KPI, trace the outcome it is supposed to support, and propose an outcome metric that measures that directly.
4. Keep some activity measures where they are useful as leading indicators, but label them as diagnostic, not targets.
5. Check each proposed metric: can we measure it with our current data, can the team influence it, and how could it be gamed?
Return:
1. A table: Current KPI | Type (activity / output / outcome) | Vanity risk | Keep / change / demote / drop | Replacement outcome metric.
2. A redesigned KPI set of 3-6 outcome metrics, each with definition, formula, data source, review frequency, and a paired guardrail metric.
3. The diagnostic activity metrics worth tracking but not targeting.
4. A short explanation I can share with my team on why the KPIs are changing.
Don't invent baselines; mark them [BASELINE NEEDED]. If KPIs are tied to pay, flag that changes may need HR review.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Data & Analysis prompts
What to fill in
- WHAT WE DO and who we serve
- PASTE THE LIST with definitions and targets if you have them
- team reviews / bonuses / leadership reporting
- BASELINE NEEDED
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the RTF structure (Role, Task, Format). RTF tells the model who to be, what to do and what shape the answer should take. It is the quickest structure that still gives noticeably better results than a bare request.
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