Agent skill

dashboard-design

Use when creating recurring product health dashboards - structures metrics by lifecycle stages, ensures North Star anchoring, includes counter-metrics, and establishes review cadence

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Install this agent skill to your Project

npx add-skill https://github.com/majiayu000/claude-skill-registry/tree/main/skills/other/other/dashboard-design-jayhjenkins-productosv0-2

SKILL.md

Dashboard Design Workflow

Purpose

Design a structured set of metrics across the user lifecycle that gives a complete picture of product health, not just a single North Star. Creates recurring dashboards for team reviews, early problem detection, and strategic decision-making.

When to Use This Workflow

Use this workflow when:

Standing up a new product team and need recurring dashboard
Existing dashboard feels incomplete or unfocused
Preparing for quarterly business reviews
Onboarding to a product and want to understand what "healthy" looks like
Establishing metrics for ongoing product monitoring
Need to rally team around clear success indicators

Skills Sequence

This workflow orchestrates 4 core skills:

1. North Star Alignment
   ↓ (Anchor dashboard to company mission and business model)
2. Funnel-Based Metric Mapping
   ↓ (Ensure coverage across all lifecycle stages)
3. Proxy Metric Selection
   ↓ (Pick measurable indicators for each stage)
4. Trade-off Evaluation
   ↓ (Include counter-metrics to catch unintended effects)
   
OUTPUT: Dashboard structure by funnel, 5-10 metrics with definitions,
        counter-metrics, review cadence, alert thresholds

Required Inputs

Gather this information before starting:

Product Context

Company/product mission statement
- What's the overarching goal?
Business model type
- One of 5 categories (ads, freemium, SaaS, marketplace, e-commerce)
Strategic priorities
- Growth, retention, monetization, quality?

Product Lifecycle

User lifecycle stages for this product
- How do users progress through your product?
- What's the journey from awareness to retained power user?

Current State

Existing metrics (if any)
- What are you currently tracking?
- What gaps exist?
Key stakeholder questions
- What questions should dashboard answer?
- What decisions does it inform?

Operational Constraints

Review cadence desired
- Daily, weekly, monthly?
- Different cadences for different audiences?
Alert capability
- Can you set automated alerts?
- What thresholds trigger escalation?

Workflow Steps

Step 1: North Star Anchoring (15 minutes)

Use the north-star-alignment skill

Ground the dashboard in company-level goals:

Activities:

Identify business model and corresponding North Star metrics
Articulate how this product serves company mission
Define "healthy" for this product relative to North Star

Questions to answer:

What company-level metrics does this product impact?
How does product health translate to company health?
What would "great" look like for this product?
What's the connection between product and company success?

Output:

markdown

## North Star Anchoring

**Business Model:** [Type]

**Company North Star Metrics:**
- [Metric 1]: [Definition]
- [Metric 2]: [Definition]

**Product's North Star Connection:**
- This product contributes to [Company North Star] by [mechanism]
- "Healthy" product = [Description tied to North Star]

**Mission Alignment:**
- Product serves mission: [How]
- Strategic priority: [Growth/Retention/Monetization/Quality]

Step 2: Funnel Structure Mapping (20 minutes)

Use the funnel-metric-mapping skill

Decompose user journey into stages and identify metrics per stage:

Activities:

Define lifecycle stages (typically 4-5 stages)
List 1-3 key metrics per stage
Identify transition conversion rates
Map any flywheel dynamics

Funnel template:

Reach → Activation → Engagement (Breadth) → Engagement (Depth) → Retention

For each stage, ask:

What defines success at this stage?
What volume metric matters?
What quality metric matters?
What's the conversion rate to next stage?

Output:

markdown

## Funnel Structure

**Stage 1: Reach**
- Definition: [When users become aware/access product]
- Key Metrics:
  1. [Metric]: [Definition + why it matters]
  2. [Metric]: [Definition + why it matters]
- Conversion to Activation: [%]

**Stage 2: Activation**
- Definition: [When users complete setup and reach first value]
- Key Metrics:
  1. [Metric]: [Definition + why it matters]
  2. [Metric]: [Definition + why it matters]
- Conversion to Engagement: [%]

**Stage 3: Engagement (Breadth)**
- Definition: [Regular product usage]
- Key Metrics:
  1. [Metric]: [Definition + why it matters]
  2. [Metric]: [Definition + why it matters]

**Stage 4: Engagement (Depth)**
- Definition: [Value-creating actions]
- Key Metrics:
  1. [Metric]: [Definition + why it matters]
  2. [Metric]: [Definition + why it matters]

**Stage 5: Retention**
- Definition: [Long-term repeat usage]
- Key Metrics:
  1. [Metric]: [Definition + why it matters]
  2. [Metric]: [Definition + why it matters]

**Flywheel Dynamics:**
- [If applicable, describe virtuous cycles]

Step 3: Proxy Metric Selection (20 minutes)

Use the proxy-metric-selection skill

For each funnel stage, define precise measurable indicators:

Activities:

For each metric, define mathematical formula (numerator/denominator)
Create simplified alternatives where needed
Validate each metric is actionable by the team
Ensure leading indicators (not just lagging)

Criteria for dashboard metrics:

Actionable: Team can directly influence
Understandable: Explainable in one sentence
Measurable: Clear data source
Leading: Provides early signal, not just hindsight

Output:

markdown

## Metric Definitions

**Reach Metrics:**

**1. [Metric Name]**
- Formula: [Numerator] / [Denominator]
- Data Source: [Where to measure]
- Actionability: [How team influences]
- Why it matters: [Connection to funnel stage goal]

**2. [Metric Name]**
[Same structure]

**Activation Metrics:**
[1-2 metrics with same detail]

**Engagement (Breadth) Metrics:**
[1-2 metrics with same detail]

**Engagement (Depth) Metrics:**
[1-2 metrics with same detail]

**Retention Metrics:**
[1-2 metrics with same detail]

Step 4: Counter-Metric Identification (15 minutes)

Use the tradeoff-evaluation skill

Identify metrics that could indicate unintended consequences:

Activities:

For each primary metric, ask "what could go wrong?"
Identify cannibalization risks
Define acceptable ranges
Plan monitoring approach

Counter-metric categories:

Cannibalization Metrics
- What other products/features might suffer?
- Example: New feature adoption hurting core feature usage
Quality Degradation Metrics
- What quality indicators could decline?
- Example: Growth at expense of user satisfaction
Sustainability Metrics
- What could indicate unsustainable growth?
- Example: High churn masked by high acquisition
Balance Metrics (for marketplaces)
- Supply vs. demand balance
- Example: Too many drivers, not enough riders

Output:

markdown

## Counter-Metrics

**For Primary Metric: [Name]**
- Counter-metric 1: [Name]
  - What it catches: [Unintended effect]
  - Acceptable range: [Threshold]
  - Alert if: [Condition]

**For Primary Metric: [Name]**
- Counter-metric 2: [Name]
  - What it catches: [Unintended effect]
  - Acceptable range: [Threshold]
  - Alert if: [Condition]

[2-3 counter-metrics total]

**Cannibalization Watch:**
- [Product/feature to monitor for impact]

**Quality Indicators:**
- [Metric to ensure quality maintained]

Step 5: Dashboard Assembly and Review Cadence (15 minutes)

Activities:

Prioritize metrics (not all are equal)
Organize into dashboard sections
Define review cadence
Set alert thresholds
Assign ownership

Dashboard structure:

markdown

# [Product Name] Health Dashboard

## 🎯 North Star (Company-Level)
[1-2 company metrics this product impacts]

## 📊 Product North Star
[1-2 top-line product metrics]

## 🔄 Funnel Health

### Reach
- [Metric 1]: [Current value] [Trend ↑↓→]
- [Metric 2]: [Current value] [Trend ↑↓→]

### Activation
- [Metric 1]: [Current value] [Trend ↑↓→]
- Reach → Activation: [Conversion %]

### Engagement (Breadth)
- [Metric 1]: [Current value] [Trend ↑↓→]
- Activation → Engagement: [Conversion %]

### Engagement (Depth)
- [Metric 1]: [Current value] [Trend ↑↓→]

### Retention
- [Metric 1]: [Current value] [Trend ↑↓→]
- [Metric 2]: [Current value] [Trend ↑↓→]

## ⚠️ Counter-Metrics & Health Checks
- [Counter-metric 1]: [Current value] [Status: ✓ Healthy / ⚠️ Warning / 🚨 Alert]
- [Counter-metric 2]: [Current value] [Status: ✓ Healthy / ⚠️ Warning / 🚨 Alert]

## 📈 Key Insights (Updated Weekly)
- [Insight 1]
- [Insight 2]
- [Action items]

Review cadence definition:

markdown

## Dashboard Review Cadence

**Daily Review (5 minutes):**
- Audience: Product team
- Metrics: [2-3 most critical metrics]
- Purpose: Early problem detection
- Action threshold: [What triggers immediate investigation]

**Weekly Review (30 minutes):**
- Audience: Product team + stakeholders
- Metrics: Full dashboard
- Purpose: Trend analysis, prioritization
- Format: [Standup / Presentation / Async doc]

**Monthly Deep-Dive (60 minutes):**
- Audience: Product team + leadership
- Metrics: Full dashboard + segmentation analysis
- Purpose: Strategic review, goal setting
- Format: [Meeting / Written review]

**Quarterly Business Review:**
- Audience: Executives
- Metrics: North Star + key highlights
- Purpose: Alignment on strategy and resources

Alert thresholds:

markdown

## Alert Configuration

**Critical Alerts (Immediate attention):**
- [Metric] drops below [threshold]: [Who to notify]
- [Counter-metric] exceeds [threshold]: [Who to notify]

**Warning Alerts (Next-day review):**
- [Metric] trends down for [X days]: [Who to notify]

**Monitoring (Weekly review):**
- [Metric ranges to track]

Ownership:

markdown

## Metric Ownership

| Metric | Owner | Data Source | Update Frequency |
|--------|-------|-------------|------------------|
| [Metric 1] | [Name/Team] | [Tool/Table] | Real-time |
| [Metric 2] | [Name/Team] | [Tool/Table] | Daily |
| [Metric 3] | [Name/Team] | [Tool/Table] | Weekly |