In my company, I’m a product analyst not a PM. This is already my third team where I am in charge of establishing the north star metric and leading team workshops for KPI trees. I think that PMs don’t really care, or at least they expect analysts to take care of it. I’m okay with doing it, but there are instances when it’s challenging to gain information from them on the team’s sometimes-overlapping vision. KPIs must complete the reporting, directing the staff, and explaining to them how the metrics are changing. But occasionally, there is ambivalence.
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PM owns definition and PA executes plan to be able to track it. If you have good PA’s they can help suggest good metrics, but metrics are too closely tied to the main objectives to be left to an analyst to choose themself.
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The responsibility for setting up KPI (Key Performance Indicators) trees or OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) in an organization typically falls on the leadership team. This may include the CEO, COO, department heads, or other top-level executives who have a deep understanding of the company’s strategic goals and objectives.
The leadership team is responsible for defining the company’s overall objectives and determining the key metrics that will be used to measure progress towards those objectives. They may work with managers and other stakeholders to develop KPI trees or OKRs that are specific to each department or team within the organization.
Once the KPI trees or OKRs are established, it is the responsibility of managers and team leaders to communicate these goals to their team members and ensure that everyone is aligned around the same objectives. Managers and team leaders may also be responsible for tracking progress towards these goals and making adjustments as needed to ensure that the organization is on track to achieve its strategic objectives.
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Cannot agree less with @MatthewShun, but you cannot deny the fact that, it’s not uncommon for product analysts to take on the responsibility of setting the north star metric and facilitating workshops for KPI trees, especially in companies where the roles and responsibilities of different team members may overlap or be less clearly defined.
Product analysts often work closely with PMs and may be responsible for helping to define and measure the success of a product or feature. In some cases, PMs may rely on the expertise of their product analysts to set the north star metric and develop KPI trees that align with the company’s overall objectives.
That being said, it’s important for team members to have clear expectations around their roles and responsibilities, so if you feel like the PMs on your team are not taking ownership of these tasks, it may be worth discussing this with them or with your manager to clarify expectations and ensure that everyone is working collaboratively towards the same goals.
Ultimately, the success of a product or feature is a team effort, and it’s important for everyone to work together to set clear goals, measure progress, and make data-driven decisions to achieve those goals.
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I can understand how it can be difficult to pull information from PMs in terms of the vision of the team and the company’s overall objectives. However, it’s important for everyone on the team to have a clear understanding of these goals in order to develop effective KPIs and drive meaningful progress towards them.
One approach you can take is to schedule a meeting or workshop with the PMs and other stakeholders to discuss the company’s vision and overall objectives, and to ensure that everyone is aligned around the same goals. This can help to identify any overlaps or conflicts between different teams and ensure that everyone is working towards the same objectives.
During this meeting, you can also discuss the specific KPIs that will be used to measure progress towards these objectives and ensure that they are aligned with the company’s overall strategy. It can be helpful to involve the PMs and other stakeholders in this process so that they feel ownership over the KPIs and are committed to working towards them.
Once the KPIs have been established, you can work with the PMs and other team members to ensure that everyone understands how progress towards these metrics will be measured and reported. This can involve setting up dashboards or other tools to track progress towards the KPIs and ensuring that everyone on the team has access to this information and understands how to use it to guide their work.
By working collaboratively with the PMs and other stakeholders to establish clear objectives and KPIs, and to ensure that everyone understands how progress towards these metrics will be measured and reported, you can help to drive meaningful progress towards the company’s overall goals.
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Given the fact that my org doesn’t have any Product Analysts the KPI’s are on the PMs.
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In an empowered team, objectives come down from the business. The PM collaborates with design and the technical team to negotiate the most valuable and feasible KRs they wager will move towards those objectives.
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Word of warning @MartyRoss, a lot of companies do OKRs wrong, and it isn’t uncommon for teams to be expected to set their own OKRs (not just key results) - even before / independently of company OKRs.
This is a terrible practice and if you are ever wondering “why are we so misaligned” or “why aren’t we really moving forward” - this is likely a big reason why…
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This was just one of the serious issues with my former company. We went through an elaborate quarterly ritual where each PM proposed their team OKRs for the next quarter, which were then reviewed together in a PM functional meeting led by the CEO. This supposedly guaranteed transparency and alignment, but in reality, the ritual exposed that we were all working devoid of an aligned strategy at the organizational level.
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I think this is extremely common - at my last company we had a an OKR for every 4 employees because every tiny group had to invent something
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Myself and our other PM were each awarded an O by the executive team and were then required to develop the KRs with help from cross-functional heads and with approval from executives.
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