Sharing Simplicity and Complexity in an Interactive Dashboard

How often does technology employ a one-size fits all approach, which in turn, limits their footprint to potential end-users?

Last month, my daughters had me update to iOS 14 on my iPhone. Their reasoning was this cool photo gallery thing on the home screens that they had just installed. I had listened and watched them over the course of a few hours (more likely minutes) struggling, learning, and continually probing until they each finally figured out how to set it up. As my phone updated, I realized that I certainly was not comfortable putting in that amount of effort for something that I wasn’t convinced could make me use my phone any differently…and that was ok. Security updates and bug fixes were important enough to update. At that moment, I recognized the analogy to what the end users are like when consuming interactive dashboards.

I like to think of interactive analytic dashboards as needing to follow 3 Rules of Three for consumers.

Rule #1: The dashboard needs to open in roughly 3 seconds. Consider how long you wait for any link to open…it’s the same thing with dashboards, if it won’t open quickly, it gets flushed. I’ve seen dashboards that took over one minute to open. User after user would tell me they had never even seen what the dashboard looked like, because they didn’t have time to wait. Really, who does.

Rule #2: Each dashboard should provide 3 immediate learnings without any interaction. This is the executive look. Normally, this is a combination of high-level numbers shown prominently in the upper part of the dashboard and a chart that is easily digested. This information can be shared in meetings or just as a reference for a manager to see how things are going.

Rule #3: There are 3 levels of user for every dashboard.

• The “executive” user. This person normally follows rule #2 above, popping into a dashboard to get a quick lay of the land, so to speak

• The “hesitant” user. This is me when using the iPhone. On the phone, I’ll use the apps that I like, rarely will download new apps, and am still sync’ing pictures to my computer rather than through some type of cloud storage. In dashboard speak, even though this user has been through training for how to use their dashboard effectively, they will limit themselves to simple filters. They are comfortable with a handful of chart types, but may not use the charts collaboratively, even if they are interacting together. The value for the dashboard is limited to what they perceive as answering their specific needs and they are fine with that. It still provides plenty of intelligence and decision-making capabilities, and as time wears on so will their comfort level, allowing them to expand their usage.

• The “super” user. These are my daughters when discussing the iPhone. New software update comes in, they’re reading about it, talking to each other, talking to friends, about the best way to use it. In dashboard speak, these users are always looking for an advantage in their decision-making. For sales, it may be utilizing product and customer segmentation together to understand who to target and with what product. For retention, it may be understanding the reasons why people are leaving and which department is most affected by certain reasons.

Bonus Rule: Make sure the users breathe before first seeing the dashboard. Consider how the consumers were digesting information before the first dashboard. Was it rows and rows of numbers? A single number? A phone call asking for that number? An anecdote that substituted for actual information? These are their comfort. Dropping a colorful, interactive image in front of them and telling them to go at it can be at minimum intimidating, and more likely off-putting. By having the user breathe and preparing them for what they are about to embark on…not just a single dashboard, but a journey into their data…the hesitancy will wash away. At least partly.

There are also many rules for creating a visually engaging dashboard and there are many artists out there who continually build masterpieces. However, for the customer, if your dashboard doesn’t follow the Rules of Three above, then instead of writing the next chapter of your company’s data story, most of your users will end up with empty intelligence. If you’re interested in a dashboard audit to ensure these rules are being followed, or want help starting your own Business Intelligence team, give us a call. We can help you start to write the next chapter of your company’s data story.