How to handle a giant list of KPIs as a requirement

design process interview

In this article, I'll explain why it's generally not a good idea to build a dashboard from a list of metrics sent to you by the business.

Santa's list

End users frequently desire too many elements in a single dashboard. This bias towards excessive detail, influenced by a spreadsheet-centric mindset, contradicts the principles of effective Data Visualization.

Can I send you my list of KPIs?

The short answer is "no." I believe we should (almost) never start with a list of KPIs emailed by an end user without any understanding of:

The strategy
The priorities
The problems
The users environment
The future use of the dashboard
The complexity of the data and the business rules

Say "yes" and release the kraken

By agreeing to handle this list of 30 KPIs without questioning it, we risk multiplying it by the number of dimensions to use with each KPI.

We will then create charts based on this and finally combining everything into dashboards.

I understand this perspective may seem simplistic, as we rarely design a dashboard for just one KPI. However, I frequently encounter products that contain 15, 20, or even 30 dashboards...

The trick

In order to do so, I use the method from the visual above. This makes it easier to:

Customize the dashboard according to user preferences
Gain a better understanding of their challenges
Enhance the user experience
Reduce cognitive overload
Minimize filter overload
Avoid data overload

You can also take a look at the Dashboard Interview Guide I've created to help you ask better questions in this situation.

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If you want to learn how to apply design and cognitive principles to your dashboards and reports, join my new training "Learn Design Driven Data Visualization".