The weekly metrics email nobody reads

Most companies have one. It goes out Monday morning, it has twenty charts, and by Wednesday nobody remembers what was in it.

The email isn’t bad because the numbers are wrong. It’s bad because it doesn’t answer the only question a busy reader has: did something change that I need to act on?

Start with what changed

A useful weekly report leads with differences, not levels. Revenue this week tells a reader almost nothing. Revenue that fell in one channel while the rest grew tells them exactly where to look.

Fewer numbers, each with an owner

If a number in the report has no owner, nobody acts when it moves. Before adding a metric, ask who would do something differently if it changed. If the answer is nobody, leave it out.

Say why, or say you don’t know yet

A chart that dropped with no explanation creates a meeting. A chart that dropped with one sentence of context ends one. When the reason isn’t known yet, say so, and say who is looking.

Make every number checkable

The fastest way to lose trust in a report is one number that doesn’t match another dashboard. Every figure should link to the query that made it, so a reader who doubts it can check in a minute instead of starting a thread.

How we built this into Logit

Scheduled reports in Logit lead with what changed. You save a question and pick a day. Logit reruns it, compares the result to the week before, and writes a short note on what changed. If a number moves outside its usual range, the report flags it.

Choosing the questions still takes judgment. You shouldn’t need a whole Monday to answer them.