It depends. (ahah!)
KPIs are everywhere.
Across dashboards.
Across reports.
We use them constantly.
And yet, the questions remain.
- Are they truly KPIs?
- Are they actually key?
- Key for others… or just for us?
- How many KPIs is reasonable in one company?
- Are they connected to business strategy?
- Do decisions happen when they signal something?
- A KPI is already a design choice
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The moment you label a number as "key" you’re making decisions:
- What matters
- What gets attention
- What deserves action
- What will be reviewed in meetings.
Yet in most organizations, the word gets diluted.
Metric = KPI
Measure = KPI
Score = KPI
Indicator = KPI
Big number = KPI
At that point, KPI just means "a number we decided to show"
And then the list grows.
10 KPIs.
25 KPIs.
50 KPIs.
75 KPIs.
Which leads to a predictable outcome: nothing is prioritized anymore.
When everything is tracked and everything is labeled "key" you’re not prioritizing.
You’re avoiding prioritization.
You’re playing the game of:
- track everything
- monitor everything
- treat everything as urgent
A KPI should exist because it:
-
anchors a business objective
-
drives a decision
-
has an owner
-
triggers action when it moves
If none of that is true, it’s a metric.
Useful, maybe.
But not key.
As a data analyst, if you’re tired of hearing that everything is a priority and everything is urgent, start pushing back.
Explaining that validating a list of 50 KPIs doesn’t create alignment.
It avoids prioritization.
And it helps no one decide what actually matters.
Take the cheatsheet.
Share it internally.
Use it to challenge how you design KPIs.
If your KPIs don’t trigger action, they need a rethink.
Have a great week everyone!
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