Every useful dashboard needs to answer eight simple questions. I keep these written on a sticky note next to my monitor because they're that important:
What happened?
When?
Where?
How much?
Compared to what?
Why?
Who cares?
What next?
These aren't just nice-to-have features. They're the foundation of every decision your dashboard needs to support.
Miss one, and you've got a pretty picture that doesn't drive action.
Let's dig into each question and see why they matter.
Question 1: What Happened?
This seems obvious, right? Your dashboard shows sales numbers, website visits, or customer complaints. But here's where most people get it wrong.
"Sales were $50,000" isn't answering "what happened." That's just a number floating in space.
"Sales hit $50,000, our second-best month this year" tells a story. Now we know something actually happened worth paying attention to.
Write chart titles that include the actual event or change, not just the metric name.
Question 2: When?
Time context makes everything meaningful. But you'd be amazed how many dashboards show numbers without clear time references.
I once saw a dashboard that showed "Customer Satisfaction: 4.2/5." Sounds good, right? But when was this measured? Last week? Last year? During the busy season or slow season?
Time isn't just about dates. It's about understanding whether this information is still relevant for the decisions you need to make today.
Always include time ranges prominently. Make it crystal clear when your data is from and how current it is.
Question 3: Where?
Geography matters, but "where" goes beyond maps. It could mean:
Which department
Which product line
Which customer segment
Which marketing channel
Which store location
The point is helping people understand the scope of what they're looking at. Are we talking about the entire company or just the west coast? All customers or just the premium ones?
Be specific about scope in your titles and labels. "West Coast Sales" is better than just "Sales." "Premium Customer Churn" is clearer than "Customer Churn."
Question 4: How Much?
This is the one question most dashboards actually answer well. Numbers everywhere! Charts galore!
But here's the thing: raw numbers without context are just trivia. "We had 1,247 website visitors" doesn't mean much by itself.
The real question is whether 1,247 is good, bad, or completely normal. Which brings us to...
Question 5: Compared to What?
This is where most dashboards start falling apart. They show you current numbers but forget to give you anything to compare them to.
Comparison is what turns data into insight. Here are the comparisons that actually matter:
Compared to last month/quarter/year: Shows trends
Compared to our goal: Shows performance
Compared to last year same time: Accounts for seasonality
Compared to industry average: Shows competitive position
Without comparison, you're just looking at numbers in isolation. With comparison, you can actually judge whether those numbers are good or bad.
Every important metric needs at least one comparison point. If your dashboard shows current sales, also show last month's sales. If it shows customer satisfaction, include your target score.
Question 6: Why?
Here's where things get interesting. And where most dashboards completely give up.
Your dashboard shows that sales dropped 15% last month. Great. But why did that happen? Was it seasonal? Did a competitor launch something new? Did we change our pricing?
Most dashboard builders think "why" isn't their job. They're wrong. You don't need to solve every mystery, but you should help people start asking the right questions.
Use annotations to highlight unusual patterns. Add context boxes that explain known factors. Include links to deeper analysis. Give people a starting point for investigation.
Question 7: Who Cares?
This might sound harsh, but it's crucial. Not every piece of data matters to every person. A good dashboard helps people figure out what they should pay attention to.
Your CEO doesn't need to see individual customer complaint details.
Your customer service manager doesn't need to see quarterly investor metrics.
But somehow, we keep building dashboards that show everything to everyone.
Design different views for different roles. Use alert systems to highlight what needs attention. Make it easy for people to find their most important metrics quickly.
Question 8: What Next?
This is the big one. The question that separates useful dashboards from pretty wall decorations.
After someone looks at your dashboard, what should they do? If the answer is "nothing" or "I don't know," then you've built a reporting tool, not a decision-making tool.
Great dashboards point toward action. They don't just show problems; they suggest solutions. They don't just display metrics; they highlight opportunities.
Include recommended actions for different scenarios. Add links to relevant tools or processes. Design alerts that connect to workflows. Make the path from insight to action as short as possible.
Building Better Dashboards
The good news? Once you know what questions to ask, building better dashboards becomes much easier.
Start every dashboard project by writing down these eight questions. For each chart you plan to include, make sure you can answer at least five of them. If you can't, either redesign the chart or reconsider whether you need it.
The goal isn't to cram all eight answers into every single chart. The goal is to make sure your dashboard as a whole addresses all eight questions for the decisions it needs to support.
Which of these eight questions does your team skip most often? Take a look at your current dashboards and see where the gaps are.
The answers might surprise you. And fixing those gaps might be the difference between dashboards that get used and dashboards that get ignored.
Because at the end of the day, the best dashboard isn't the prettiest one. It's the one that helps people make better decisions faster. And that only happens when you answer all eight questions that matter.