Dashboards 101

Tips on developing dashboards and different platforms for building them

Photo by Luke Chesser on Unsplash

One of the most common responsibilities of tech consultants is building and maintaining dashboards. Dashboards are crucial for product performance because they turn raw data into actionable insight—allowing teams to make fast, informed decisions that drive growth, usability, and efficiency.

Here are why executives and teams need dashboards:

Real-Time Visibility into Key Metrics

Dashboards provide immediate awareness of what’s happening with your product:

• Monitor user engagement, conversion rates, retention, and churn in real-time.

• Spot performance issues (e.g., load time, error rates) before they impact users.

• Track the success of new features or experiments (A/B tests).

Identify Trends & Opportunities

Dashboards surface trends and anomalies that lead to new product ideas or improvements:

• Usage patterns by time, geography, or device.

• Which features are sticky or ignored.

• Drop-offs in onboarding or checkout flows.

Support Stakeholder Communication

Well-designed dashboards communicate value clearly to executives, investors, and cross-functional teams:

• Show progress against OKRs or roadmap milestones.

• Justify resourcing or product investments.

• Tell a story with data in a digestible format.

Photo by Stephen Dawson on Unsplash

There are many different platforms for building dashboards, and these platforms will depend on your team and use case: