If you weren’t convinced that dashboards have become over-hyped, these two Dilbert strips that appeared last week should be the final straw:
(Click twice to enlarge the comics)
The intellectual side of me would like to defend our profession and chalk these up as simply cartoons designed to elicit a laugh. Unfortunately, they are accurate depictions of the reality in many organizations; the data within them are either inaccurate or simply not believable.
Dashboards need a certification process for all of the data they contain: goals, initiatives, financial and non-financial metrics. With certification and auditing comes trust. With trust, comes use. With increased use, more impact.
After all, that’s why we build dashboards. To have impact, to increase performance. Not just to have another IT project. Right?
(BTW, I waited until today to post these to see if Sunday’s strip – usually the most vicious and insightful – also was about dashboards.)
Posted by Jonathan 
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