Journal · 21 Jan 2026
When power users distort your median
Every consumer app we have critiqued in Bangkok has a small group of accounts that open the product so often they pull the median with them. Leadership then sets goals as if that median were a typical person. Roadmaps chase a ghost.
In ride-hailing, the tail was often dispatchers sharing a login. In grocery, it was shoppers placing orders for an extended family from one account. In fintech, it was employees testing production. Calling all of them “power users” flattened three operational facts into a compliment.
Split before you celebrate
Retention Arc Mapping spends an evening on this split. We plot frequency, then we plot destination or task diversity. High frequency plus low diversity is usually an operational role or a shared household. High frequency plus high diversity is closer to a true heavy consumer. Those two groups should never share an activation.
Medians still have a place: after the split. A median inside a named behavioral cut is a useful temperature. A median across the whole app is a press release.
What to tell leadership
Report the size of the tail and whether it is shrinking. If the tail is employees, say that. If it is shared family accounts, say that. If you truly have heavy consumers, describe the job they repeat, not the session count they rack up. Devpacketline will not help you write the slide that calls a dispatcher a fan.