Nice to see my friend Eric chiming in… he says here that:
“Dashboards” and key performance indicators are not supposed to be the end-product of our labor! These reports, regardless of how they’re presented, are designed to keep the reader connected with the business and drive inquiry; I always say that KPIs that don’t drive some type of action are not KPIs at all!”
As Eric says “Yep.”
This is not my argument with dashboards or KPIs.
Eric goes on to say:
But important. Very important. I propose that no organization will ever be successful with the use of dashboards unless they’re actually prepared to take action based on the information those dashboards represent. Don’t measure your conversion rate unless you aleady have a clear plan, including set expectations, for how you’re going to improve your conversion rate slowly and incrementally.
I agree.
As I stated in a previous post, one of the good things about dashboards is that they create a visceral response in their viewers - good ones anyway. A good dashboard with the right KPIs helps/drives/engenders a response in its viewer. It makes them want to take action because of what they see. If it doesn’t, it ain’t workin’.
After some careful introspection, it seems that my frustration has mostly to do with the current trendiness of Dashboards because, at least amongst my users, it creates a negative view of any other form of visual reporting - If it’s not a Dashboard, it isn’t valuable. Well, I happen to think that’s just not true and not fair to other reporting forms.
Finally, Eric says:
Again, welcome to the blogosphere.
To which I say Thanks! and make sure to check out Eric’s efforts at www.webanalyticsdemystified.com.
What is your experience? What do you think? Have I got it all wrong? Leave me a comment and let me know!
