Technique · Actionable Gamification
Strategy Dashboard before mechanics (OCT-M03)
Before adding any game element, write down the ranked business metrics, the user segments, the Desired Actions by phase, the feedback surfaces and the rewards on hand. Chou does this with every client; in an early product it stops the team from bolting mechanics onto a flow nobody has defined.
Plain label: metrics and Desired Actions defined firstAlso known as: Octalysis Strategy Dashboard, design brief
How it works
Mechanics chosen before the goal tend to become a points-and-badges shell. Ranking the metrics, outcomes above the ones that only enable them, forces a decision about what the product is for; listing the Desired Actions in order exposes steps with no reason behind them; tagging each feedback surface with the drive it carries reveals empty nudges. Chou removes any element that drives no Desired Action and repeats the exercise whenever offers or rewards change.
How to build it
- B2B
- A one-page brief per product area: ranked metrics, the users, Desired Actions by stage, feedback surfaces and the reward ladder.
- Web
- Write each screen's single target metric on its design frame before choosing any engagement element.
- Mobile
- List every surface (app, push, email, community) before choosing mechanics, then tag each with the drive it carries.
What can go wrong
- Choosing mechanics first and finding a metric later.
- An unranked metric list, so every screen tries to move everything.
- Writing it once and never updating it when offers change.
Pairs well with
- Follow with a drive audit of the key Desired Action (OCT-M06).
- Cut any element that drives no Desired Action.
In practice
Where it shows up
Limits
What we don’t claim
- Octalysis is a practitioner framework built from observing games, not a validated scientific model.Actionable Gamification Ch.15, pp.399-400
Sources
Actionable Gamification · Yu-kai Chou
Ch.17, p.463 · Ch.17, p.464 · Ch.17, p.465 · Ch.17, p.467 · Ch.17, p.470 · Ch.7, p.146
Source IDs: OCT-M03OCT-P1
Book content is paraphrased, never quoted at length. Last verified October 24, 2026.
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