Method

The Analytics Atlas

A four-layer drawing we use before any tool login. It is not a canvas template. It is a refusal to let App Analytics collapse into a folder of unrelated charts.

Code and terminal windows on a dark display
  1. I
    Ground — events as places

    Every event is a named place on a map, not a log line. Object–action English. Properties are weather, not new towns. If two teams cannot point to the same place, you do not have instrumentation yet; you have folklore.

  2. II
    Routes — journeys without the morality play

    Funnels are one kind of route. So are loops, dead ends, and ferries between platforms. We draw unordered behaviour as a lattice so “drop-off” has to earn the word.

  3. III
    Relief — cohorts as elevation

    Time windows and acquisition cuts are contour lines. A flat overall retention curve is a valley hidden by a ridge of old users. Elevation is what finance is actually asking for.

  4. IV
    Legend — decisions with kill criteria

    A map you cannot act on is a poster. The legend is a one-page brief: the change, the cohort, the wait, the stop rule. Programmes exist to practise writing that legend in public.

Server racks photographed in cool light

Where the Atlas shows up in class

Retention Cartography lives mostly on layers III and IV. Event Schema Architecture is almost entirely layer I, with a little of II. Funnel Geometry is layer II with identity problems left in. Experiment Atlas borrows the legend and asks whether your “win” moved elevation or just a pin on the ground.

You can read the method without buying a seat. You cannot outsource the drawing. If you want a guided pass, start with the programmes list or write to the studio with the product you would put on the table.