# PostHog, Mixpanel, Amplitude, Heap - what Data Driven Product Development actually looks like **URL:** \ **Category:** What Am I Missing\ **Tags:** operating-principles, product\ **Created:** [January 19, 2023, 3:47pm UTC](https://gorelay.co/t/posthog-mixpanel-amplitude-heap-what-data-driven-product-development-actually-looks-like/868 "2023-01-19T15:47:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ricklamers](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/gorelay.co/ricklamers/32/735_2.png) [@ricklamers](https://gorelay.co/u/ricklamers)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2023, 3:47pm UTC](https://gorelay.co/t/posthog-mixpanel-amplitude-heap-what-data-driven-product-development-actually-looks-like/868/1 "2023-01-19T15:47:44Z")
Hi all! I’d like to think SaaS companies use data for decision-making around product development way more than traditional industries do. But I’m curious to get perspective from Founders, Product Managers, UX Designers, Growth Officers & more on Relay to dig deeper into how these product analytics solutions are being used in day-to-day practice. What we’ve seen at our startup ([https://www.orchest.io](https://www.orchest.io)) is that while we collect the event data and have access to it through both PostHog UI & Metabase for custom queries, we tend to overlook the data in day-to-day product development processes (review meetings, roadmap prioritization sessions, etc.). If you have opinions/perspectives/learnings to share please leave them in this thread. For those who are interested: I’m looking to connect 1:1 to talk in more detail about this topic. Please shoot me a message on rick at [orchest.io](http://orchest.io) if you want to dig deeper and share detailed learnings about what works & doesn’t or simply brainstorm together. ---
**Author:** ![amogh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/gorelay.co/amogh/32/651_2.png) [@amogh](https://gorelay.co/u/amogh)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2023, 10:56pm UTC](https://gorelay.co/t/posthog-mixpanel-amplitude-heap-what-data-driven-product-development-actually-looks-like/868/2 "2023-02-04T22:56:19Z")
Hey Rick! We definitely struggled with that too at eesel. What we found works best is to create a “systematic” way to check in on these metrics, so it’s not just looked at on whims. - We aligned on some key metrics (like active users, growth). Each weekly / monthly planning, before we discuss the week’s / month’s goals, we look at the metrics for the past week / month. It’s a concrete part of planning. - We made a “growth plan” which defines our “path to default alive” and we check in on that every month. I wrote a blog on this and shared the template we have - [Track your path to default alive - The Paperclip by eesel.app](https://www.eesel.app/blog/track-your-path-to-default-alive) - When we roll out a new beta / experiment, we “systematically” have a Metabase dashboard for it, and look at the key metrics each week. It comes down to both defining the metrics in a systematic way (wrote a blog on that - [Your metrics belong in a system - The Paperclip by eesel.app](https://www.eesel.app/blog/your-metrics-belong-in-a-system)) and consuming them in a systematic way. We’re definitely not experts on this haha, but it seems to be working alright. ---
**Author:** ![christophepas](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/gorelay.co/christophepas/32/703_2.png) [@christophepas](https://gorelay.co/u/christophepas)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2023, 5:01pm UTC](https://gorelay.co/t/posthog-mixpanel-amplitude-heap-what-data-driven-product-development-actually-looks-like/868/3 "2023-02-05T17:01:44Z")
Tricky topic indeed! The 2 things I found to be helping 1/ have no intermediary, make sure the data is accessible by any PM/EM that would tend to access it. Using products like june.so or amplitude help dramatically make sure people don’t overlook data simply because they can’t handle it on their own 2/ Make it a habit: In every product pitch we build, we have a section dedicated to it + in every weekly update, and every investor update (my monthly ritual), report on the same _simple_ KPIs, over and over. Good luck Rick! ---
**Author:** ![ricklamers](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/gorelay.co/ricklamers/32/735_2.png) [@ricklamers](https://gorelay.co/u/ricklamers)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2023, 5:00pm UTC](https://gorelay.co/t/posthog-mixpanel-amplitude-heap-what-data-driven-product-development-actually-looks-like/868/4 "2023-02-14T17:00:08Z")
> [@christophepas](#): > > have no intermediary 💯 agree here. Layers = friction. > [@christophepas](#): > > In every product pitch we build, we have a section dedicated to it I really like that! Proposals need data ^^ @amogh thanks for contributing your thoughts. - Metabase dashboards for experiment/beta metrics sounds great. I guess you did the hard work of making sure the data for those reaches the Metabase configured sources 🙂 Or did you magically make that painless? If so, do share, haha. - “Path to default alive” is a great focus. Even for venture backed startups it’s a great milestone to hit because it gives you the additional freedom to do what’s right for the company. - Really enjoyed reading both articles you linked. Especially ‘Your metrics belong in a system’ shows really clearly how metrics in isolation aren’t as useful as understanding the bigger picture they’re a part of.