Indeed, short term metrics vs long term hatred. I know how it happens, I've designed many a KPI. Something so fundamental and important as the default non-user

Indeed, short term metrics vs long term hatred. I know how it happens, I've designed many a KPI. Something so fundamental and important as the default non-user first-exerpience (not just a 'signup flow') should be evaluated more holistically than just looking at numbers. But I guess when you have layers of middle managers it's safer to point to a spreadsheet than make hard choices.