--- title: "Adding, editing, and deleting metrics" description: "Metrics track a number a circle or role reports on a set frequency. Add one from the Metrics tab, record its values, and delete it in two stages: archive first, then delete." category: structure-governance section: policies-and-publications type: Tutorial lastUpdated: 2026-08-05 locale: en canonical: https://support.talkspirit.com/en/structure-governance/how-to-add-edit-and-delete-metrics --- # Adding, editing, and deleting metrics ## Adding, editing, and deleting metrics Add a metric from the **Metrics** tab of a circle or a role with **Add metric**, edit it from the three-dot menu on its row, and delete it in two stages: archive it first, then delete it from the archived list. A metric is a number the circle or role reports on a set frequency, such as "Open bugs older than 30 days", checked every week. ![The Metrics tab of the Product Development circle, with the Group, Filter and Add metric controls above a table of two weekly metrics showing Name, Latest Value, Recurrence and Role](/images/structure-governance/how-to-add-edit-and-delete-metrics/01-circle-metrics-tab.png) ## What do I need before I start? Metrics are switched on for the whole organisation by an administrator, in **Administration** under **Structure**, with the **Metrics** setting. When it is off, no circle, role or member page shows a **Metrics** tab at all. Metrics is deliberately not part of the Holacracy add-on, so the two settings are independent of each other. Who may do what follows the metric's owner: - **Members of the owning circle**, and **holders of the owning role**, can create, edit, archive, delete and record values. - **Assignees** listed on the metric can edit it, and record values when their **Can record** switch is on. They cannot archive or delete it. - **Administrators** can edit, archive and delete any metric, but they can only record values on metrics they own or are assigned to. - **Everyone else** sees the metric read-only. Opening it shows a **View only** badge and no **Edit** button. Guest accounts cannot create metrics, even in a circle they belong to. ## How do I add a metric? 1. Open the **Metrics** tab of a circle or a role. 2. Click **Add metric**. 3. Type a **Name**. It is the only required field. 4. Add a **Description** if you need one. 5. Choose the **Format**: Number, Percentage, Currency, Boolean or Text. Number is the default. 6. Choose the **Frequency**: Daily, Weekly, Twice a month, Monthly, Every two months, Quarterly, Twice a year or Yearly. 7. On a Number, Percentage or Currency metric, set a **Target value** and a **Target direction** (Above, Below or Exact). Fill in both or neither: a target value with no direction is refused when you click **Create**, and the message you get back is a raw technical error rather than a readable one. 8. A Number metric also takes a **Unit** such as "bugs" or "items". A Currency metric takes a **Currency code** such as EUR. 9. Under **Assignees**, add the members and roles responsible for the metric. Each one gets a **Can record** switch that decides whether they may enter values. 10. Click **Create**. ![The Create metric dialog, with Name marked required, a Description box, Format set to Number, Frequency set to Weekly, empty Target value and Target direction fields, a Unit field and an Assignees section](/images/structure-governance/how-to-add-edit-and-delete-metrics/02-create-metric-dialog.png) The metric belongs to the page you created it from. Adding from a circle always creates a circle metric, so to create a role metric, open the role first. On a circle, the list shows both: the circle's own metrics, plus the metrics of every role inside it, with the role's name in the **Role** column. To attach a file or a link, create the metric first, open it, and use the **Files** tab beside its comments. Files can come from your device, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or a plain link. ## How do I record a value? 1. Click the three-dot menu at the end of the metric's row. 2. Select **Record value**. 3. Check the **Period start**, type the **Value**, and add a **Comment** if it helps. 4. Click **Save**. The value then appears in the **Latest Value** column, formatted with the metric's unit or currency. Every value you record is kept, and you can see the full list under **Recorded values** when you open the metric. ![The Record value dialog for the metric Open bugs older than 30 days, with a Period start of Aug 5 2026, an empty required Value field, and an optional Comment box](/images/structure-governance/how-to-add-edit-and-delete-metrics/03-record-value-dialog.png) **Note:** the **Recurrence** column reads "Not checked" until a value covers the current period. Today this only ever clears for daily, weekly and monthly metrics. A quarterly or yearly metric keeps showing "Not checked" however recently you recorded a value, so do not read it as a sign that something is missing. ## How do I edit a metric? Click the three-dot menu at the end of the row and select **Edit**, or open the metric and click **Edit** next to **Information**. Either way you get the same dialog, this time titled **Edit metric**, with every field of the create form. Clicking the metric's name opens its panel instead, where you can read its target, its assignees, its recorded values, and add comments or files. ![The three-dot menu on an active metric, open on Edit, Record value, Bring to a meeting, Copy URL and Archive](/images/structure-governance/how-to-add-edit-and-delete-metrics/04-metric-row-menu.png) ## How do I delete a metric? Deleting happens in two stages. You archive the metric first, then delete it from the archived list. 1. Click the three-dot menu at the end of the row, select **Archive**, and confirm. 2. Click **Filter** and switch **Archived** on. 3. Click the three-dot menu on the archived metric, select **Delete**, and confirm. **Important:** both stages are one-way. Deleting removes the metric and all of its recorded values, and cannot be undone. Archiving keeps the history, but the interface offers no way to bring an archived metric back, so treat it as final too rather than as a safe pause. ![The metrics list with the Archived filter on, showing one archived metric whose three-dot menu is open on Edit, Record value, Bring to a meeting, Copy URL and Delete](/images/structure-governance/how-to-add-edit-and-delete-metrics/05-archived-metric-delete.png) ## How do I review metrics in a meeting? Open a meeting whose template includes a **Metrics Review** section. The **Tactical Meeting** system template has one, and you can add a **Metrics** section to any template you build yourself. The section gathers the metrics of the circles and roles taking part, grouped by **Frequency** or by **Owner**. Reviewing them means recording each one's value for the period. There is no separate validation step, and you do not need the whole circle present. While the meeting is **in progress**, participants get an **Add metric** button and a three-dot menu on each row offering **Edit**, **Record value** and **Archive**. Before the meeting starts and once it has ended, the section is read-only. Deleting a metric is never offered inside a meeting: do it from the circle or role page. ![The Metrics Review step of a tactical meeting, third in a five-step rail, listing two weekly metrics with their Frequency, Latest value and Owner](/images/structure-governance/how-to-add-edit-and-delete-metrics/06-meeting-metrics-review.png) ## How do I find one metric in a long list? The toolbar above the list gives you four ways to narrow it down: - **Group** by **Recurrence**, which is the default, or by **Role** on a circle page. Choose **None** for a flat list. - **Filter** by recurrence, by **Status** (Checked or Not checked), by role, and with the **Archived** switch. - **Search** by name with the magnifying glass. - **Sort** by clicking the **Name**, **Recurrence** or **Role** column headings. ## Where else do metrics appear? A member's profile has its own **Metrics** tab. It is read-only, and in practice it stays empty: it lists metrics owned by the person rather than metrics assigned to them, and no screen in the product creates a metric owned by a person. To see what someone is responsible for, look at the metrics of the circles and roles they hold. **Note:** your organisation can rename *role* and *circle*, so the tab and column names on your screen may use different words. ## What's Next? - [Adding, editing, and deleting checklists](/structure-governance/how-to-add-edit-and-delete-checklists), the same mechanics, for the recurring actions a circle tracks. - [Tactical Meetings Overview](/structure-governance/introducing-tactical-meetings), the meeting where metrics are usually reviewed. - [What a circle page shows](/structure-governance/circle-page-tabs) - [Adding a role or a circle](/structure-governance/how-to-add-a-role-or-a-circle)