Remember potential long-term or unexpected effects. Don't forget about unintended consequences, the [Goodhart's Law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law) and unexpected long-term effects. ## Remind that product metrics are not a panacea and not an oracle They are just a projection of the goal, not the goal itself. ## Balance the product metrics Always balance your [[Product Metric]]. If you introduce a new metric, especially public, balance it with another metric that won't let it be manupulated at the expense of deteriorating other parts. For the balance of public metrics, you can also introduce hidden metrics which you measure but don't tell anyone about. ## Add the Common Sense As strange as it may sound, this is the best thing that helps in such matters. You can always ask yourself and others - well, metrics are metrics, but is everything really ok from the point of common sense? There should be a person who has an opportunity and reputation to say: > Metrics are metrics, but are we optimizing something short-term here? Will it bring us any problems in the future?