Plan analytics update in Avo branch
1.1 Decide what to track
Role: Product or Data (This initiative is usually led by a product oriented person)
The hardest part in the whole analytics release process is usually to decide what events and properties you need, to be able to measure the success of the product change. There are many paths to a decision, but no matter which one you take, we recommend doing it as early as possible in the development process.
We always recommend starting by formulating the metrics you hope to move with your change. Our favorite way to do this is what we like to call a Purpose Meetings (opens in a new tab). The outcomes of that meeting are:
- Goals – what does success look like?
- Metrics – how will we measure how successful we are?
- Data – what analytics events do we need for our success metrics?
The result of the purpose meeting is usually a draft of events that someone takes forward to the next step.
1.2 Create a branch in Avo
Role: Product or Data. (This is also sometimes done by engineering, particularly when the engineering team is product driven.)
The first thing you do in Avo, for a product release, is to create a new branch.
A branch allows you to draft changes to the tracking plan in isolation, without impacting the main branch, which contains the single source of truth of what’s currently being tracked.
To create a new branch, first make sure you are on the main branch. You can see the name of the branch you’re currently on under your workspace name in the branch sidebar. Right next to the name of the branch, you can click the plus icon and there you can create a new branch as shown on the screenshot below.
Name your branch in a way that helps your team mates know what the branch is about. We recommend the branch name references the product update or feature it’s connected to in some way. Some teams also like including a reference to the team involved in the change and/or a ticket number from their task management system.
Example: Creating a branch
1.3 Define metrics, events and properties
Role: Product or Data
The results of the purpose meeting can all be documented in Avo in context with your metrics and event definitions. Learn more in our guide to use Categories and Metrics to document Purpose Meetings.
Once you have an idea of what to track, you start defining the event structures on your branch in Avo.
There are a few things to keep in mind when doing so:
- Check for existing events that you can use or expand with additional properties
- Check for existing properties that you can use instead of defining new ones. You can search for existing properties using the command pallette (cmd+k on Mac, ctrl+k on Windows) or browse all your properties on the Properties screen in the Tracking Plan.
- Follow the naming convention used in your workspace. The Avo issue reporter and naming assistant will help you do so.
- Add descriptions to your events and properties to keep transparency and clarity between those who design, implement and consume the data
- Try to apply property rules on your properties if possible. This is especially useful when you have a string property that has a finite number of possible values.
Example: Event definition
What’s next?
