I am equally frustrated by and impressed with the dashboard concept.

Frustrated because of the buzz that it has enjoyed over the past 12 to 18 months. (I’m often turned off by things with buzz or that are over-hyped) and because that simple word seems to trivialize what it represents.

Impressed because, as a word, it conveys all that the report designer tries to do with the added bonus of a strong emotional or visceral impact. I would imagine that when you envision a dashboard in your mind that you, like me, picture the dashboard from your favorite sports car rather than the rather hum-drum and immenently practical dashboard of the early VW beetle. And, as a concept, a dashboard is quickly and easily grasped even out of its primary context of the automobile.

As web analysts or report designers, our job is to clearly and quickly reduce the overwhelming volume and complexity of data at our disposal to recognizable information that our customers can quickly understand and use to make impactful business decisions.

Simplifying that blood sweat and tears of designing an effective display of information into the word ‘dashboard’ both trivializes that work and makes it easier to sell its value to others - so here I sit conflicted.