Lightning talk presented at MERL Tech 2018. Often we think of dashboards as interactive reports instead of being digital products. By rethinking our criteria of success for launching a new dashboard and borrowing from UX design, we can think more meaningfully about how we build dashboards stakeholders actually want to use.

1. WHY NO ONE IS USING
YOUR DASHBOARD
MERL Tech 2018 | Lightning Talk
Amanda Makulec
Data Visualization Lead excella.com | @excellaco

2. What’s the most
common question
I’m asked as a
data viz developer?

3. What
dashboard tool
is the best?

4. Tech makes
big promises.

6. We’re so focused on
technology platforms,
we forget that each
dashboard is
a digital product.

7. Viable Feasible
Desirable
Adapted from IDEO https://designthinking.ideo.com/?page_id=1542

8. Viable Feasible
Desirable
Adapted from IDEO https://designthinking.ideo.com/?page_id=1542
Functional,
but may fail
to meet user
needs

9. Viable Feasible
Desirable
Adapted from IDEO https://designthinking.ideo.com/?page_id=1542
Aspirational,
but probably
can’t be built.

10. Viable Feasible
Desirable
Adapted from IDEO https://designthinking.ideo.com/?page_id=1542
Failing here =
why no one is
using your
dashboard.

11. We need to refocus on
resolving common user
issues to create
dashboards people
want to use.

12. I don’t know how
to use the new
dashboard.

13. Why?
Confusing
UX design
Ineffective /
insufficient
training for
new users

14. Embed user
cues in the
dashboard
On demand
trainings

15. I can’t find the
data I need.

16. Why?
User needs
not well
understood
or prioritized
Failure of
design and
usability

17. Co-design
with end
users
Make purposeful
design decisions
& conduct user
testing

18. The dashboard
doesn’t help me
uncover “why.”

19. Why?
Design doesn’t
enable
exploration
Design doesn’t
give necessary
context

20. Link views
within
dashboards and
enable
drilldowns
Add reference
lines, averages,
and benchmarks
for easy visual
comparisons

21. Dashboard
platforms enable
great design, but
aren’t silver bullets.

22. https://public.tableau.com/en-us/s/gallery/prevalence-obstetric-fistula

23. https://public.tableau.com/en-us/s/gallery/prevalence-obstetric-fistula

25. Viable Feasible
Desirable
Adapted from IDEO https://designthinking.ideo.com/?page_id=1542
Sweet spot for
dashboard
success!

26. excella.com | @excellaco Amanda Makulec
Data Visualization Lead
amanda.makulec@excella.com
@abmakulec