A Mapcore practice
Cohort cartography.
A retention line is a coastline seen from too far away. We teach teams to draw the interior: first-feature valleys, paid ridges, and the marsh where guest traffic pretends to be a user.
Why a map, not a sparkline
App analytics tools love a single curve because it fits a slide. Cartography insists on adjacent terrains. Users who arrived from a winter campaign do not walk the same path as those who came from a referral in May. Mixing them is how a product team congratulates a feature that only held for one weather.
In the Cartograph Circle we spend a day assigning every cohort a landscape metaphor the team already shares — not as decoration, as a memory device. If you cannot point to the marsh on the wall, you are not allowed to average it away.
What the map must include
A first-touch that is actually a human choice. A paywall contour. A support-contact ravine. A region labelled “SDK ghost” where events fire without a person. Most dashboards omit the ghost; it is usually the largest unmarked area.
We do not sell GIS software. The artefact is a one-page atlas the team can keep beside the weekly letter. Students on Signal Architecture meet a lighter version in the retention module. The Circle is the full survey.
Sit with the survey
If your room still argues from one D7 number, start with the flagship desk. If you already instrument and need the harder reading, ask for Cartograph Circle. Both are described on the fee page; neither is purchased here.