Uber Team North Star, Input Metrics and Guardrails Before a Two-Month PM Leave

Imagine you are a Senior PM at Uber and are about to step away from your team for two months. Before you go, you need to define the team's metrics, including its north star. How would you define them, given that the team will be working without you for that period? ```hint Metrics the team can steer by Settle the team's scope first. Then think about what the team needs in order to make good calls for eight weeks without you, not only which numbers exist. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Which team do I lead: a rider-facing product, driver supply, marketplace and pricing, delivery, or a platform team? - Is there a company or org priority for this period, such as growth versus profitability? - Does the team cover Uber globally or one region? - Who makes product decisions while I am away, and is the team revising existing metrics or starting fresh? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A stated team scope and goal tied to Uber's mission and the current business priority - A north star the team can move and read within two months, with its rationale and the alternatives rejected - Input metrics that break the north star down across riders, drivers and trips, plus guardrails - What makes the metrics usable without the PM: targets, alert thresholds, owners, decision rights and review cadence - Seasonality and data-quality risks over the period of absence ### Follow-up Questions - Three weeks into your leave, the north star is up but rider cancellations are climbing. What should the team do, and how would your setup have told them? - How would your metrics change if the company's priority shifted from growth to profitability? - When you return, how will you judge whether the metric setup worked?