Give Your Metrics an Expiry Date

Metrics aren't forever. By attaching an expiry date to a dashboard number you create a built-in reminder to ask whether the signal still matters. The article shows how a simple calendar prompt turned a useful proxy into a retirement cue.

For eighteen months the author tracked a proxy metric for "Something We Care About" and saw month-on-month improvement. After six months of direct action the metric stopped providing new insight - it was still green but no longer answered the three questions of visibility, actionability, and usage. The metric became a decorative number that gave a false sense of progress.

Because dashboards become habits, retiring a metric feels risky. Without a nudge, stale charts accumulate, clutter decision-making space, and erode confidence in the data you actually need. An expiry date forces a periodic audit, trimming the noise and keeping the remaining metrics sharp.

The takeaway is simple: schedule a retirement check for each metric. When the date arrives, evaluate if the metric still drives decisions; if not, thank it and remove it. This habit keeps dashboards lean, meaningful, and trustworthy.