Stop Making Dashboards Nobody Looks At

My Confession

I spent four months building what I thought was the perfect outcomes dashboard. Color-coded charts. Drill-down capability. Real-time data feeds. I presented it to our board with the confidence of someone who'd never watched a room full of people glaze over.

Six months later, I checked the analytics. Three people had logged in. Total. One of them was me.

The Problem Wasn't the Dashboard

I'd built what I wanted to build, not what anyone needed to see. Our program managers wanted a quick answer to "are we on track this quarter?" Our board wanted to know if we were spending money wisely. Our funders wanted proof their investment was working.

My dashboard answered questions nobody was asking.

What I Do Now

Before I build anything, I sit down with whoever's going to use it. Not a survey—an actual conversation. "What decision are you trying to make? What information would help you make it? What format works for how you actually work?"

Our ED, turns out, wanted a single number she could rattle off in elevator conversations. Our board wanted trends over time. Our program staff wanted alerts when something was off.

Same data. Three completely different presentations.

The Metrics That Matter

Here's my controversial opinion: most nonprofits track too much. We collect data because we can, not because it tells us anything useful.

I now aim for 5-7 core metrics per audience. That's it. Everything else is available if someone wants to dig, but it's not cluttering up the main view.

• For funders: outcomes tied directly to their grant
• For the board: financial health + impact summary
• For staff: operational indicators they can actually influence

The dashboard people use is the dashboard that respects their time.