# Metric

Any quantified measurement — the broad category that KPIs, OKRs, and targets refine.

A metric is any measurement — any quantity an organization chooses to track. It is the broadest term in the measurement vocabulary, encompassing everything countable regardless of whether it is tied to a critical objective.

Precision among related terms prevents dashboards that measure everything and steer nothing. A metric becomes a KPI only when it is tied to a critical objective; an OKR is a goal-setting frame (an Objective with its Key Results), not merely a number; and a target is the specific value a metric is meant to reach. Not every metric is a KPI, and not every number is an OKR.

### Commonly confused

A KPI. Every KPI is a metric, but most metrics are not KPIs — a KPI is a metric tied to a critical objective.

---

[View this page on the website](https://getconductor.com/glossary/metric) · Last updated: 2026-08-04