How to Set Goals That Drive Product Success

Torres argues that good product goals start from the user's success rather than vanity product metrics like page views or time on site. She recommends defining a success funnel by comparing successful users with unsuccessful ones, then finding the points of leverage where effort will move total outcomes most. Goals should be classed as baseline, growth, or maintenance depending on how well understood the metric is. Growth goals should exceed the extrapolated current trend and be set aggressively. The approach matters because a goal without a plausible path to it is just a dream.

01Key takeaways

• Measure success by the user's outcome, not by product activity like clicks or time on site.
• Use the 'so what?' test to confirm a success metric actually reflects a solved user problem.
• Map a success funnel from observed successful behavior, or write down your hypothesis if the product is new.
• Find the funnel step where improvement moves total outcomes most, rather than chasing the biggest number.
• A goal without a believable path to achieving it is a dream, so pair targets with a plan.
• Set baseline goals when you lack trend data, growth goals once you have a trend, and maintenance goals for metrics that are good enough.

02Key sections

Start From the Top

Define success in terms of the user's outcome rather than product metrics, and test it by asking 'so what?' until the answer is that the user's problem is solved.

Define the Path to Success

Map the steps users take toward success, using data from successful users or a hypothesized funnel for new products, then refine the funnel as real data arrives.

Understand Your Points of Leverage

Identify where improvements have the biggest impact on total outcomes by examining conversion rates at each funnel step and testing whether target rates are realistic.

Know Your Stage: Baselines, Growth, or Maintenance

Classify each goal as baseline (collect data and understand the metric), growth (push a metric up), or maintenance (protect a metric from slipping).

Setting Growth Goals

Start from the extrapolated current trend and set goals above it, favoring aggressive, exponential targets over incremental ones.

03From the post

“Goal setting is hard. And yet, so important. It’s one of the 8 critical decisions involved in building great products. If you get it right, you and your team can charge hard at the goal, ignoring everything else, to good result. If you get it wrong and you do”

04Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.