---
name: metric-definition-document
description: "So that two teams asking the same question get the same number. Use when the user wants help with Metric Definition Document. Related topics: Data, Reporting, Communication."
---

# Metric Definition Document

So that two teams asking the same question get the same number.

## How to use this skill

1. Ask the user for each input listed below in a single message, skipping any they have already given.
2. Where options are listed, offer them, but accept other answers too.
3. Fill the answers into the prompt template, then follow the completed prompt to produce the result.

## Inputs

- **Metric name** (free text, e.g. "What people call it")
- **What it is meant to measure** (longer free text)
- **How it is calculated now** (longer free text)
- **Sources** (longer free text)
- **Where the numbers disagree** (longer free text)
- **Who uses it and for what** (longer free text)

## Prompt template

## Defining this metric properly

- Metric name: {{Metric name}}
- What it is meant to measure: {{What it is meant to measure}}
- How it is calculated now: {{How it is calculated now}}
- Sources: {{Sources}}
- Where the numbers disagree: {{Where the numbers disagree}}
- Who uses it and for what: {{Who uses it and for what}}

Write the definition: exact calculation, what is included and excluded, the time grain, and the source of truth.

Spend most of the effort on the edge cases that cause the disagreements. Refunds, test accounts, timezones, soft-deleted records, late-arriving data. That is where the differences actually come from.

State what the metric does not measure, since misuse causes more damage than miscalculation. Add a worked example and name who owns changes to this definition.

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Source: [Metric Definition Document on PromptBuild](https://promptbuild.io/prompt/OtwFR8Pxgbz8SXXqwX7D/metric-definition-document)