North Star Metric

Define a North Star Metric and 3-5 supporting input metrics that form a metrics constellation. Classify the business game (Attention, Transaction, Productivity) and validate against 7 criteria for an effective North Star. Use when choosing a North Star Metric, setting up a metrics framework, learning about the North Star Framework, or deciding what to measure.

27,559 stars 2,851 forksSoftware Development

Install

skills CLI (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and more)
npx skills add phuryn/pm-skills --skill north-star-metric
Manual install
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/phuryn/pm-skills.git /tmp/pm-skills
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -r /tmp/pm-skills/pm-marketing-growth/skills/north-star-metric ~/.claude/skills/north-star-metric

Personal skills live in ~/.claude/skills. Use .claude/skills in a project folder to share a skill with your team.

From the SKILL.md

# North Star Metric

Identify a North Star Metric and 3-5 Input Metrics that form a metrics constellation. Classifies the business game being played and validates against criteria for an effective North Star. Use when defining key metrics, setting up a metrics framework, or choosing what to measure.

## Domain Context

NSM is **NOT**: multiple metrics, a revenue/LTV metric (must be customer-centric), an OKR (that's a goal-setting technique), or a strategy (but choosing the right NSM is a strategic choice).

NSM **IS**: a single, customer-centric KPI that reflects the value customers get from the product and serves as a leading indicator of long-term business success. You can use Key Results (OKRs) to express expected change in NSM.

Free resource: [The North Star Framework 101 (PDF)](https://learn.productcompass.pm/nsm101)

## When to Use

- Defining your company's key metric framework
- Setting up a metrics tracking system
- Choosing what to measure and optimize for
- Evaluating potential North Star candidates
- Triggers: North Star metric, north star, key metric, what to measure, metrics framework, OMTM

## The Three Business Games

Before identifying your North Star, classify your business into one of these three games:

- **Attention Game**: How much time do customers spend using your product? (Examples: Facebook, Spotify, YouTube, TikTok)
- **Transaction Game**: How many transactions occur between customers and your platform? (Examples: Amazon, Uber, Airbnb, PayPal)
Read the full skill on GitHub

Details

Skill name
north-star-metric
Path
pm-marketing-growth/skills/north-star-metric/SKILL.md
License
MIT
Repo updated
29 October 2026

FAQ

What does the North Star Metric skill do?

Define a North Star Metric and 3-5 supporting input metrics that form a metrics constellation. Classify the business game (Attention, Transaction, Productivity) and validate against 7 criteria for an effective North Star. Use when choosing a North Star Metric, setting up a metrics framework, learning about the North Star Framework, or deciding what to measure.

How do I install the North Star Metric skill?

skills CLI (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and more): npx skills add phuryn/pm-skills --skill north-star-metric. Skills go in ~/.claude/skills (personal) or .claude/skills (project), and Claude loads them automatically when a task matches the description.

Is North Star Metric popular?

It lives in phuryn/pm-skills, which has 27,559 GitHub stars and 2,851 forks, and is included in 3 curated skill lists.

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