Signs it is time to revisit reporting dashboards

This is one of those topics that looks small until it costs you something. A few signals that reporting dashboards is due some attention.

More dashboards rarely produce more decisions. Assume whoever inherits this will have half your context and none of your patience.

The signals

• Nobody can say when it was last reviewed
• The answer depends on who you ask
• A dashboard nobody opens is not a dashboard
• Fewer numbers, more clearly explained

How we handle it

Every metric should suggest an action. Where this goes wrong is almost never a lack of knowledge. It is the sort of thing that looks like polish right up until it costs you an enquiry.

What this looks like day to day

Data you do not trust is worse than no data, because it gets quoted anyway. Three things worth confirming about reporting dashboards before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Fewer numbers, more clearly explained — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

If any of that sounds like a description of your current setup, it is fixable.