In this short video, Eric Ries—author of The Lean Startup—explains the dangers of vanity metrics: numbers that look impressive but don’t actually help you improve.

While the tone is very tech start-up (and some examples are a little dated), the message is highly relevant:

The right metrics depend on what you’re building.

What works for one product or team won’t necessarily work for another. The value of a metric lies in how well it helps you make decisions, not how popular it is with others.

Whether you’re working in tech, service delivery, policy, or community engagement, this video is a useful reminder to focus on what matters for your context, not someone else’s dashboard.

Quick Tip

Pressed for time? Couldn’t follow the geek-speak?

Use AI tools like Google Gemini or ChatGPT to summarize the video and help you apply its insights to your own project, product, or team.

Just paste the video URL and ask for a plain-English explanation tailored to your context.

Here’s an example prompt: I’m a company delivering accounting software solutions to small businesses – how is the following video relevant to me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dvsNmL__9U&ab_channel=TechCrunch

You could even try several different AI solutions to see which gives you the best result!