Measurement: When the Data Moves, What Changes?
This is Part 8 in the 2026 Planning Series.
Early in my CPG career, when I was in sales planning, I learned a frustrating lesson about measurement.
After a major bleach launch, we saw one week of slight share decline at a key retailer (only -0.6% pts!).
Nothing was fundamentally wrong. But in a large, public CPG company, share is tracked externally by Wall Street and scrutinized internally. So even a small dip triggers alarms on a high stakes launch.
As a result, I spent the next two weeks knee-deep in data, building full-year share projections and optimistic vs. conservative scenarios for leadership.
Honestly, it was largely a waste of time.
Not because share doesn’t matter — it absolutely does.
But because share is a lagging outcome you don’t directly control. You control assortment, pricing, promotion, positioning, messaging (and to a lesser extent distribution & shelving). Competitors control the other half of the share equation.
We were reacting to a short-term signal as if it were an operational lever — trying to “manage” it in real time.
That experience shaped how I think about measurement.
Where this fits in the annual planning series:
By this point, you’ve already done the hard work:
Audited last year (what actually moved the business)
Defined the business challenge (where you need to win)
Chosen focus using OGS(P)T
Named bets, risks, and decision triggers
Measurement determines whether you hold the line, pivot or fold.
👉Missed the earlier pieces in the series? Revisit them here.
Two Common Measurement Errors
The first: most teams treat all metrics as equally important, actionable, and urgent. They’re not.
Leading indicators tell you if a bet is likely to work.
Lagging indicators tell you if it did. Early in a bet, you should be watching the former — not panicking over the latter.
But even teams who understand that distinction still miss the second error: they haven't pre-defined what the data actually means for the plan.
The real question is: When you are looking at metrics and the the data moves — what changes in the plan?
Hold the Line, Pivot or Fold?
Stay the course. Leading indicators are moving as expected. Lagging metrics are still early. Do nothing.
Adjust execution. The strategy still holds, but the channel, creative, budget or offer needs refinement.
Revisit the bet. Leading indicators stall beyond your predefined trigger window. Now the strategy itself is in question.
If you haven’t defined those paths in advance, dashboards drive decisions instead of strategy.
I’ve never seen a team panic because they didn’t have enough data. I’ve seen plenty panic because they hadn’t agreed on what the data would mean.
If you want a live example of this dynamic, read my TikTok article next! Volatility doesn’t mean strategy failure. It means interpretation discipline matters .
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That's the series! Now go build a plan that can survive 2026.
👉 Questions about annual planning? Vehemently disagree and want to debate a point? Email me — I read them all.
