--- name: marketing-metric-definition-sheet description: "The metric definition sheet discipline pointed at commercial metrics: one owned formula, data source, and owner per metric name — including honestly naming a channel-attribution model nobody actually chose, rather than letting it pass as validated. Use when: Marketing and Sales have started reporting different numbers for a metric with the same name — an SQL count, a conversion rate — and nobody has actually reconciled why. A visibility board or marketing KPI tree is live and you want every metric on it traceable to a real formula and a real owner, not an assumption inherited from the CRM's defaults. Not for: You don't actually know how a metric is computed today — go find out from RevOps or whoever owns the CRM report first; this sheet records real facts, it doesn't invent a formula that sounds plausible. The metric is genuinely one-off or exploratory, not something two or more people will reference by name going forward — the overhead isn't worth it yet." --- # Marketing metric definition sheet The metric definition sheet discipline pointed at commercial metrics: one owned formula, data source, and owner per metric name — including honestly naming a channel-attribution model nobody actually chose, rather than letting it pass as validated. Family: Measurement · Format: .xlsx · Domain: commercial ## What it is A marketing metric definition sheet is a real, checkable answer to 'what does this number actually mean, and who says so' for commercial metrics — one formula, one data source, one owner per metric name, the same discipline as a shop-floor metric definition sheet pointed at SQLs, cost per SQL, or channel attribution instead of production metrics. A dashboard built on an unvalidated default (like first-touch attribution nobody deliberately chose) looks just as authoritative as one built on a real, agreed formula — this sheet is where that difference actually gets named. ## When to use it Use it when: - Marketing and Sales have started reporting different numbers for a metric with the same name — an SQL count, a conversion rate — and nobody has actually reconciled why. - A visibility board or marketing KPI tree is live and you want every metric on it traceable to a real formula and a real owner, not an assumption inherited from the CRM's defaults. - You want to know honestly which commercial metrics — including hard ones like channel attribution — still have no agreed definition. Not when: - You don't actually know how a metric is computed today — go find out from RevOps or whoever owns the CRM report first; this sheet records real facts, it doesn't invent a formula that sounds plausible. - The metric is genuinely one-off or exploratory, not something two or more people will reference by name going forward — the overhead isn't worth it yet. ## How to fill it in - **scopeArea** — What part of the commercial function do these metric definitions cover? - **metrics** — For each metric: the formula, data source, owner, refresh cadence, and unit you actually use today — your own facts, never guessed. Leave any of these blank if it's genuinely not agreed yet, including a model (like attribution) that's really just an unvalidated default. - **narrative** — Drafted from the metrics actually defined, naming which ones still have a real gap. ## What good looks like The example below continues the Beacon Analytics storyline — SQL and cost per SQL are both checked and confirmed against the marketing KPI tree's own assumptions, and channel attribution honestly names the CRM's first-touch default as unvalidated rather than letting it pass as a real model. Full worked example, on-screen and as a downloadable .xlsx: https://www.katafacts.com/katas/marketing-metric-definition-sheet ## Common mistakes - **Treating a CRM's default field (like first-touch attribution) as though it were a deliberately chosen model.** — A default is not a decision — naming it as unvalidated is what stops a budget conversation from quietly trusting a number nobody actually chose. - **Leaving a metric unowned because 'marketing and sales both kind of own it.'** — A definition nobody owns is a definition everyone quietly forks — a real owner is what keeps the formula from silently drifting as campaigns and systems change. - **Resolving a genuine Marketing-vs-Sales conflict unilaterally just to make the sheet look complete.** — Picking a winner without the other team's buy-in doesn't resolve the conflict, it just hides it — naming the conflict plainly is what actually gets it fixed. ## What it connects to Upstream: - **Marketing key performance indicator (KPI) tree** (`marketing-kpi-tree`) — A driver metric named there — like channel attribution, left without one — is exactly what this sheet formally names as a gap, even when it can't resolve it. - **Marketing go-see protocol** (`marketing-go-see-protocol`) — A go-see walk verifies a metric is holding at the source system; this sheet is what defines what 'holding' actually means for that metric in the first place. Downstream: - **Marketing attribution reality check** (`marketing-attribution-reality-check`) — This sheet names channel attribution as an unowned, unvalidated default; the reality check is where that default actually gets pressure-tested against two other honest models. ## Where AI helps Judgement — stays with you: - Deciding whether a metric's formula is actually well-specified or just sounds precise - Deciding which unresolved gap — including a hard one like attribution — to prioritize closing first Analysis — AI helps: - Tightening raw definition and known-limitations notes into specific, scannable language - Drafting the narrative naming which metrics are fully specified and which still have a real gap Drudgery — automated: - Identifying which metrics are missing a formula or an owner - Exporting to xlsx in the house format --- Marketing metric definition sheet is licensed [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Attribution: Katafacts (katafacts.com). ## Using this skill Apply this method as part of whatever broader task, instructions, or deliverable you're already working on -- it's a method to use, not a standalone conversation to start. There is no generation tool for this catalogue yet, so draft the artifact's actual content yourself, following the fields above, the same way a person filling this out by hand would. The canonical guide page and a downloadable worked example (.xlsx) are at https://www.katafacts.com/katas/marketing-metric-definition-sheet.