In the weekly dashboard, each row represented a city—yes—but more important, each city was an individual network in Uber’s global network of networks that needed to be nurtured, protected, and grown. It was deeply and uniquely ingrained in Uber’s DNA to talk about metrics at the hyperlocal network level. In my several years there, it was unusual to ever hear about an aggregate number—like total trips or total active riders—except as a big vanity milestone at a company all-hands. Those aggregate metrics were regarded as mostly meaningless.
