Input Metric

An Input Metric is a metric that measures the work you're doing to drive outcomes. It's the effort you're investing, the activities you're executing. Input metrics are leading indicators — they predict whether you'll hit your outcome targets if past patterns hold.

Examples of input metrics include: "Customer calls completed per week," "Blog posts published," "Features shipped," "Marketing campaigns launched," "Code reviews completed." These are all things you control and can measure directly. They're not outcomes themselves, but they should drive outcomes if your theory is correct.

The relationship between input metrics and outcome metrics (Key Results) should be clear: "If we do X (input metric), we expect Y (outcome metric) to happen." For example, "If we complete 20 customer calls per week (input), we expect to close 5 deals per month (outcome)." When this relationship breaks down — when input metrics are hitting targets but outcomes aren't — it signals that your assumptions need revision.