KPI scorecard
Numbers before opinions.
Five to nine measures, one owner each, a goal each, and a weekly reading. Every planning session starts here, which is the cheapest way we know to stop a quarter being planned on vibes.
The scorecard
The five to nine numbers that call the quarter.
Built from the client’s own measures during setup, not a generic template. Each one has a goal, an owner and a weekly reading, and each one is colored against its goal so nobody has to interpret a spreadsheet.
- Goal, owner and weekly reading on every measure
- Red / yellow / green against the client’s own targets
- Trend visible across the quarter, not just the latest number
- Feeds straight into next quarter’s look-back
The numbers that call the quarter
| Gross margin % | goal 44% | 41.8% |
| New MRR | goal $12k | $13.4k |
| Quote turnaround | goal 3 days | 6 days |
| Estimator seats filled | goal 2 | 0 |
| Cash on hand | goal 60 days | 71 days |
Choosing measures
What a good scorecard looks like.
We help clients build theirs during setup. These are the rules of thumb we apply.
Keep
- Leading indicators, not just lagging ones
- Numbers a named person can actually move
- Measures already collected somewhere
- One cash measure, always
Cut
- Anything nobody has looked at in two quarters
- Vanity metrics that only go up
- Measures requiring a report to produce
- Two numbers that say the same thing
Watch
- Quality measures next to volume ones
- One customer-side measure
- One team-side measure
- The one number the owner is avoiding
FAQ
About the scorecard.
Does it connect to my client’s accounting or CRM?
Not today — readings are entered weekly, which takes about a minute and has the side effect of making someone look at the number. Integrations are on the roadmap and founding partners help set that order.
How many measures is right?
Five to nine. Below five you are missing a dimension of the business; above nine nobody reads it weekly, and a scorecard nobody reads is just a spreadsheet with feelings in it.
Can each client have different measures?
Yes — every client’s scorecard is their own. What stays consistent is the structure, so you can walk into any client’s quarter and read it instantly.
Keep reading
Related
How to pick numbers that survive a quarter.
Where the weekly rhythm lives.
The scorecard is step two for a reason.
Bring a client’s numbers to the demo.
We will build a scorecard live and you can judge the fit.
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