IT Teams embark on new projects well aware of the old adage " Projects will likely fail on at least one of the three key delivery goals":-
- On time
- To specification
- Within budget
I have suffered this when scope creep and indecision delayed a Global Online Reservation System by 6 months. But on delivery it did at least exceed specification and over-performed with a higher than planned Return on Investment (ROI).
Dashboard and Reporting projects often suffer from the three issues above and the design mistakes Charles Caldwell describes are often the reason.
The operational and business users have to wait too long and create duplicate systems. When the initial dashboards are deployed, users are underwhelmed. Worst of all they do not give the clear insights to make better, data-driven decisions.
Plenty of advice and links in the article to avoid these pitfalls. Also worth the time to read this best practice resource
Dashboard design may seem simple – throw some charts and graphs together and start sharing with colleagues so they can make data-driven decisions. However, data doesn’t equal information, and information doesn’t equal knowledge. It’s important to consider who your audience is, and what they want to get out of the dashboard before you even get started.
