Meaning
The single primary metric that best captures the core value a product delivers to its customers and drives long-term sustainable growth.
Three examples from work
Strategic alignment
CPOWhat is our official North Star metric for this fiscal year?
POWeekly active teams completing at least three automated workflows.
Prioritization filter
PMHow does building dark mode impact our North Star metric?
LeadIt doesn't directly; we should prioritize collaboration tools instead.
Team sync
FounderEvery engineering sprint goal should contribute to moving the North Star metric.
Scrum MasterWe display the live metric at the beginning of each planning session.
A good North Star metric measures customer value, not vanity numbers. For Spotify, it is 'time spent listening'; for Airbnb, 'nights booked'.