Define the measurement window before starting

A number without a time window is not a result. "Our page got 400 pageviews" means nothing unless everyone agrees the 400 was counted over the same days, against the same baseline. The measurement window is part of the task's contract: it fixes the moment the baseline was captured, the period the result belongs to, and the point where the result counts as final. Define it before you start, or you will argue about what the numbers mean later.

Before you begin work on any task that carries a measurement contract (target, metric, source, window). You find the contract on the task card, under "How we'll know it worked."

• Open the task (from the THIS WEEK'S MOVE card at the top of the Marketing Plan via "Go to task", or through the Tasks section of the page). On open-ended, goal-driven plans the same card is labeled YOUR NEXT MOVE.
• Read the task's structured contract: target, metric, source, and window.
• Confirm the task is actually measurable. Some tasks are not (see Choose a metric that matches the task).

1. 1Open the task card and read "How we'll know it worked." Note the metric (what will be measured) and the target (what "good" looks like).
2. 2Find the measurement window in the task contract: the period the result belongs to (for example, 7 days or 30 days after the task is done).
3. 3Identify the baseline moment. For metric-backed tasks, the app captures the baseline when you mark the task done, and the window runs from there, so mark it done when the work actually ships. For a task measured on its exact published page or post, measurement starts from zero when you save that URL on the task.
4. 4Write down the window's start and end dates somewhere you will actually see them (your planner, a note, the task description). Do not trust memory.
5. 5Start the work only after you can state the window out loud: "This will be measured over X days, starting from the baseline captured when this work is marked done."
6. 6If the contract has no window and no target, stop: either the task is completion-proof-only (Choose a metric that matches the task) or the task needs its contract set before you execute. A task measured without a window produces a number nobody can interpret.

On the task card: "How we'll know it worked," with the measurement contract as Target, Metric, Source, and Window. While an integration-backed task waits on its window, the card reads "Task completed. Measurement pending." and shows when the final result is due. The result is not final yet.