In the dynamic world of product management, data isn’t just helpful—it’s an essential partner that guides us. It brings clarity to complex decisions and highlights the path ahead. For product managers, continuously keeping an eye on real-time data is crucial. Dashboards that monitor product performance and user experience help ensure teams remain aligned with user needs and expectations.
Recently, a friend of mine, Alex, joined a new product team. During one of our coffee catch-ups, Alex mentioned how he was dealing with some challenges around event tracking. He had started exploring the team’s dashboards and quickly discovered significant gaps in capturing user interactions. These weren’t minor oversights; they represented missed opportunities to deeply understand user journeys and enhance engagement strategies.
It’s tempting to jump straight into solutions, but if we don’t fully grasp the problem, we’ll just end up patching symptoms rather than addressing the root cause.
As we discussed this over coffee, we realized the best approach wasn’t to immediately jump into solutions but rather to step back and thoroughly understand the situation first. We talked through thoughtful approaches to diagnosing such problems, including asking key questions:
- “What data points truly matter for our user experience?”
- “Are we capturing user interactions at the right granularity to inform strategic decisions?”
We agreed that while prioritizing key user journeys was essential, it was equally important to be comprehensive and detailed within those priority areas. This conversation led us to consider conducting a focused yet thorough audit, mapping out the current state comprehensively, and clearly identifying any gaps before proposing solutions.
Inspired by Einstein’s perspective:
If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.
– Albert Einstein
Alex’s team took a deliberate step back. They performed an extensive audit, collaborating closely with their engineering colleagues. This audit wasn’t merely routine—it was a targeted initiative designed to align their data collection practices closely with business goals, ensuring comprehensive coverage in the critical user journey areas.
They meticulously documented each interaction users had with the platform, pinpointing exactly where essential data was missing. By clearly identifying these gaps, the team could strategically prioritize their efforts while ensuring comprehensive tracking within these critical areas.
The adjustments the team implemented were thoughtful and deliberate. Soon after these improvements, Alex shared that the results were immediate and meaningful. Their data became cleaner, more structured, and significantly more insightful. They gained deeper, actionable insights into user behaviors, which significantly influenced feature development and retention strategies.
Reflecting on this experience, I was reminded that effective event tracking isn’t just about collecting more data—it’s about collecting the right data comprehensively within priority areas. It’s a continuous, collaborative process requiring constant attention, alignment with strategic goals, and genuine curiosity about the stories the data reveals.
As we wrapped up our coffee, I shared one of my favorite quotes from Peter Drucker:
You can’t manage what you don’t measure.
Alex nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. His team’s commitment to comprehensive and meaningful data collection had already started to pay off, empowering informed decisions and ultimately leading to experiences that not only met but exceeded user expectations.
Every piece of data tells a part of the story; make sure you are listening to the whole narrative!