metric-gaslighting-detector
Find out how a dashboard, KPI report, or metrics slide is lying to you — before you repeat its story in a bigger room. Use when numbers feel too tidy, a narrative rests on one chart, or you inherited metrics you didn't define. Produces a deception audit: every metric graded for the eleven classic distortions (denominator games, survivorship, y-axis crimes, cherry-picked windows…), the story the data would tell under honest framing, and the three questions to ask the metric's owner.
npx skills add mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills --skill metric-gaslighting-detector --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# Metric Gaslighting Detector Dashboards rarely contain false numbers. They contain true numbers arranged to create false beliefs. This skill audits the *arrangement* — the eleven standard distortions through which honest data becomes dishonest narrative. ## Required Inputs - **The metrics artifact** — the dashboard description, KPI table, chart, or the numbers with their labels exactly as presented. Include axis ranges, time windows, and any annotations; the lie usually lives there. - **The claim being made with it** (if any) — "churn is under control", "the launch worked". The audit tests the *claim-data* connection, not the data alone. ## The Eleven Distortions 1. **Denominator games** — the base changed ("of active users" quietly became "of weekly active") 2. **Survivorship framing** — measuring only what remained (retention of cohorts that didn't churn early) 3. **Y-axis crimes** — truncated baselines, dual axes, log scales without labels 4. **The cherry window** — the date range that starts at the trough or ends before the drop 5. **Mix-shift laundering** — the aggregate improved because composition changed, not performance 6. **Ratio without magnitude** — "+40%!" concealing
- Required Inputs
- The Eleven Distortions
- Output Format
- Quality Checks
- Anti-Patterns
What does the metric-gaslighting-detector skill do?
Find out how a dashboard, KPI report, or metrics slide is lying to you — before you repeat its story in a bigger room. Use when numbers feel too tidy, a narrative rests on one chart, or you inherited metrics you didn't define. Produces a deception audit: every metric graded for the eleven classic distortions (denominator games, survivorship, y-axis crimes, cherry-picked windows…), the story the data would tell under honest framing, and the three questions to ask the metric's owner.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills --skill metric-gaslighting-detector --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills, a repository with 1,255 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.