Migration guide
Running 4DX alongside Primer
WIGs, lead measures, lag measures, compelling scoreboard, cadence of accountability, already natively modeled.
Respecting the system you already run
4DX is a disciplined system. The distinction between lead and lag measures, the insistence on a compelling scoreboard, and the weekly cadence of accountability are exactly the behaviors we have watched Primer users reinvent for themselves. This guide is not selling you on 4DX; you already bought in. It is showing how lead or lag typing, per metric cadence, and the metric stack line up with WIGs, lead / lag measures, and the scoreboard, so you can run 4DX with tooling that understands the discipline.
Translating 4DX concepts into Primer
Every discipline has a one-to-one Primer equivalent, no forcing required.
| Source concept | Primer equivalent | Translation note |
|---|---|---|
| WIG (Wildly Important Goal) | strategic goal | WIG discipline (focus on the wildly important) maps to Primer's strategic typing. |
| Lag measure | metric with tagged as lagging | The outcome you want, what the quarter is judged on. |
| Lead measure | metric with tagged as leading | The behavior you can influence today that moves the lag measure later. |
| Compelling scoreboard | tier rollup view of the metric stack | Five colored bands you can read from across the room, the point of a compelling scoreboard. |
| Cadence of accountability | per metric cadence on each metric + the weekly the resolution workflow review | Weekly WIG sessions align with Primer's commitment workflow. |
Three ways to try Primer alongside what you already run
None of these ask you to give anything up. Pick the lowest cost option you can get away with. Your own data will tell you what fits.
Path 1: Concurrent
Run Primer concurrently
Keep your WIG session and your paper scoreboard. Mirror the lead and lag measures into Primer and let both systems compute their scoreboards. Most 4DX teams see identical conclusions within a week, which is the point.
Path 2: Combine
Combine inside Primer
Retire the paper scoreboard. WIGs become strategic goals; lead and lag measures become typed metrics; the weekly cadence is already in per metric cadence. Your existing 4DX coach does not need to rewrite anything, the vocabulary is preserved.
Path 3: A/B test
A/B test with two teams
Give one team the Primer scoreboard and the other the paper one. Run 4DX for a cycle. Ask both which scoreboard made their WIG session shorter and sharper.
What Primer contributes beyond the standard 4DX practice
4DX is already disciplined. Primer adds machinery for when the discipline has to scale beyond one team.
Typed lead / lag at the schema level
lead or lag typing encodes the lead/lag distinction in the database. Reports can filter or group by it, no discipline drift when new measures are added.
Weighted composite across WIGs
4DX does not specify how to weigh WIGs against each other. Primer's metric-level weight gives you a first-class answer when leadership has to trade one WIG for another.
Commitment workflow for lag targets
Draft → aligned → committed turns a WIG target from a decision into a negotiation with a paper trail. Helpful when WIGs have to cascade across teams.
Audit of every score adjustment
The the audit log log captures every change to a measure's value or threshold. The classic 4DX failure mode. 'did we quietly move the line?', becomes answerable with a query.
Cross-team WIG dependency graph
If your WIG relies on another team's lead measure, typed goal dependencies with blocks or informs makes that link explicit and visible in both scoreboards.
Customization suggestions, code you may want to modify
4DX shops are fiercely opinionated about the visual scoreboard. Here is where customers most often customize to match their existing language.
Label lead or lag typing as 'Lead' / 'Lag' in the UI
Trivial locale change, update the strings for indicator.leading and indicator.lagging to 'Lead measure' and 'Lag measure' so 4DX veterans feel at home immediately.
Compelling-scoreboard page
Add a a compelling scoreboard page route that renders the current tier state of every lead and lag measure in a big, high-contrast format designed to be projected in a war room.
Weekly WIG-session checklist
Add a small form component where each participant commits to one action for the upcoming week. Store it as a goal_adjustment note so the accountability thread is permanent.
Lead-measure progress bar
A dedicated chart type where the lead measure's week-over-week progress is shown above its lag measure's monthly roll. About 50 lines with your existing chart library.
WIG cascade visualization
Render the cascaded origin tree as a top-down WIG map so the whole organization sees how their WIG supports the WIG above.
You bought a perpetual source license. Every part of Primer is yours to change. These are suggestions, not requirements.
Let your team discover what fits
4DX teams usually need fewer cycles than any other group to decide. The discipline is the same; only the tooling changes.
Ready to project it on the wall?
Spin up the demo, mirror your current WIGs, and see what the compelling scoreboard looks like rendered from real data.