The Stand-For Audit

Here is a one-hour exercise I'd give any leadership team before it hands another number to an AI system.

Pick your five most-watched metrics. For each one, write three lines.

First: what does this number stand for? Name the actual thing in plain words, such as "customers who would recommend us" rather than "NPS."

Second: who can move the number without moving the thing? Be specific. A support agent can close tickets faster by closing them early. A sales rep can inflate pipeline by logging weak leads.

Third: what would we see in the real world if the number were rising and the thing were not?

Then compare answers across the team. The disagreements are the finding. When two people on the same team write different answers to the first question, the number has been standing for two things at once, and any AI set to move it will pick the easier one.

Keep the page and review it quarterly. It is also the best brief you can give a model that will be working near that number.

Which of your five was hardest to write the second line for?