Setting goals and metrics for community-specific experiences such as LGBT adoption support

Imagine you are a product manager on a team that creates new product experiences for groups of people facing specific life situations. Examples of the experiences the team works on include support for LGBT couples who are adopting a child and career advice for children of color. How would you set goals for a product like this? ```hint Define success for one person first Picture someone in one of these situations and ask what would be different in their life if the product worked. Then consider how you could observe that change, given that the audience is small and the subject is personal. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Should I set goals for one of the example experiences, such as the adoption one, or for the team's portfolio as a whole? - Is the product an idea, an early pilot, or already launched with some usage? - Will it live inside an existing app, for example as a community or group feature in Facebook, or as a standalone product? - What is the business case for the team: the company mission and community value, long-term engagement with the core apps, or revenue? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A goal derived from the company mission and the specific need of the chosen community. - A north-star metric that reflects real value delivered rather than raw usage, plus input metrics a team can move week to week. - Goals and targets that change with the product's stage and are set from measured baselines. - Guardrails for privacy, safety and trust, given sensitive identity information and, for one example, young users. - How to measure with small, sensitive audiences and outcomes that take a long time to appear. ### Follow-up Questions - The adoption experience earns excellent satisfaction scores but reaches only a small audience, and leadership questions its funding. How do you make the case with your goals? - Adoption outcomes can take a long time. How would you check that your short-term metrics actually predict them? - The audience is too small for a standard A/B test. How would you evaluate a new feature?