Common Dashboard Creation Mistakes

Only YOU can prevent premature dashboard death. You can spend an eternity building a beautiful dashboard and if it... - is too complicated to understand or use - can't answer stakeholders' key questions - contains irrelevant/outdated/inaccurate info - has a poor user interface or isn't user-friendly - utilizes unnecessarily complex charts or graphs - doesn't allow for stakeholders to customize views - has too much info or is at the wrong level of granularity - prioritizes being cute and fun to look at over usability (just me?) ...it will go to the dashboard graveyard, where all dashboards go to die 🪦 Don't let your hard work go to waste. Ask yourself: - What is my users' level of understanding? - What questions am I trying to answer? - Is this data relevant to the objectives? - Did I prioritize the user's experience? - Are my charts easy to understand? - Is my dashboard customizable? - Did I include the right data? - Am I a mature human who can build professional-looking dashboards? 👆 This last one is just for me (and the answer hasn't always been yes 🫠). Do your part to save the dashboards. Would you add anything else to these lists?

👇🏽 My post on dashboards unexpectedly got popular. The comment section was amazing, and the following data practitioners shared their expertise on dealing with the challenges of dashboards not being used: Jose Gerardo Pineda Galindo: "Understanding the business is key to deliver an actionable Dashboard... [Also make] your dashboards simple and not a Dashboard with 20+ mixed with graphs, metrics, tables." Robert Odera, MBA: "Start with users and uses... socialize what the dashboard does, reiterate what the dashboard doesn't do, ask what outcomes the changes will drive..." Anna Decker Wilson: "The dashboard is a square peg in a round hole attempt at a solution to the last mile problem in data - it seems like the dashboard will fill the need, but it seldom does..." Daniel E. Thompson: "Most of the dashboards I create for clients involve a 'Business Recommendation' page in PowerBI that covers 4-5 main KPIs, strategy, important metrics, and steps for short/long-term planning." Eric Gonzalez: "1. Gather requirements, 2. Wireframing, 2a. Get stakeholders out of “this is how we’ve always done it” mentality, 3. Monitor usage consistently, 4. If usage is low, ask why and redo 1-2" Anna Bergevin: "Start by asking what they need the data for... Then decide if a dashboard is even the right solution (maybe it’s not - maybe it’s alerts, maybe it’s email report delivery, maybe it’s a curated table they can pull into excel and explore)." Kobe W.: "Start from a business problem and create dashboards as solutions to these problems. Take it up a notch by including the consumer in the design process. Mimic their workflow in the design... [so it's] an integrated part of the process..." Idriss Shatila: "[Educate] them, you're the expert, they came to you, so you tell them what can be done and what cannot be done so that they would learn." Kaleb Thompson: "Stop building dashboards. Most of the time it’s not even the right solution to drive the desired business outcomes... I think the future of BI is a handful of high level enterprise KPIs and the rest being data driven alerts and triggers that lead to real actions." Marco Giordano: "... I insert dashboards into the 'process.' The fact of using the dashboard is tied to some actions they can take. So if they don't use the dashboard(s), they miss a piece!" Andrew C. Madson: "I have my teams get to know their stakeholders and deeply understand their roles, responsibilities, and needs... Then, build a product with quick iterations and tight feedback loops, enabling them to do their job better." Robert Harmon: "[The] first step is [to] stop being reactive with dashboards. Start being proactive with timely messaging. If the data's off, you'll know in like 10 minutes. The users will definitely tell you..." Yuki Kakegawa: "You leave the data industry." (this one is my favorite 🤣) There were more, but I hit the word limit for the post 😅 #data #datascience #analytics

Hey, Data Analysts! Are you tired of your dashboards being ignored? I've got you! Here are the top 5 reasons stakeholders won't use your dashboards and what you can do about it: ➡️ Overwhelming Complexity - When a dashboard feels like a puzzle, stakeholders quickly disengage. Keep it straightforward and focused. ➡️ Irrelevant Information: It will be ignored if the dashboard doesn't address your stakeholders' needs. Build your design around your audience. ➡️ Bad Design: Ease and intuitive use is crucial. A dashboard that's hard to navigate won't be used. ➡️ Outdated Data: Stakeholders need up-to-date information to make informed decisions. Outdated data undermines your trust and credibility. ➡️ Mobile Incompatibility: Executives are often mobile-first. If your dashboard isn't accessible on the go, it won't be used. Ready to learn? Check out: 💡Alex Freberg - Dashboard tutorials on YouTube and Analyst Builder 💡Luke Barousse - Tableau tutorials on YouTube 💡Andy Kriebel - Design thinking and tutorials for Tableau 💡Aurélien Vautier - Data visualization design newsletter 💡Dawn Harrington - Expert Tableau tips on a world-class blog 💡Nathan Yau - Creator of FlowingData 💡Nick Desbarats - Author of "Practical Charts" 💡Alberto Cairo - Author of "The Art of Insight" What tips do you have to increase dashboard usage? Happy Learning! #dataanalytics #datavisualization #dashboarddesign

Your dashboard isn’t failing because of design. It’s failing because of indifference: I see this often: • Clean visuals • Thoughtful KPIs • Low-to-zero usage Why? Because you built a museum, not a control panel. Users don’t want “data visibility.” They want direction. Use the 5-second rule: Within 5 seconds, the user should know: • What’s going wrong • What action they might take How? • Write titles in plain language (“12% BELOW target”) • Highlight deviations, not just metrics • Add a “What You Need To Know Today” block up top I turned around a manufacturing dashboard this way. Usage tripled. More importantly, people made decisions with it. Good data doesn’t speak for itself. It needs a voice. Got a dashboard no one opens? Tell me what problem it was supposed to solve.