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Product Mindset
Building Effective Dashboards
Design dashboards that drive decisions, not just display data
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Section 5 of 5One Dashboard Per Audience
Executives need high-level business metrics. Product teams need engagement details. Growth teams need funnel conversion. Don\'t build one dashboard for everyone-build targeted dashboards for each audience.
Dashboard Templates by Audience
Executive Dashboard
Audience: CEO, Board, InvestorsUpdate: Monthly
Growth
MRR/ARR
User growth %
Market share
Health
Churn rate
NRR
Burn rate
Efficiency
CAC
LTV
LTV:CAC ratio
Dashboard Design Principles
✅ Good Dashboard Design
- •One metric, one insight - Each chart answers ONE question
- •Color for meaning - Red = bad, Green = good, Gray = neutral
- •Context always - Show trends, not just current number
- •Action-oriented - If metric drops, what do you do?
- •Less is more - 5-7 key metrics. More = noise.
❌ Bad Dashboard Design
- •Metric soup - 50 metrics on one screen. No focus.
- •No context - \"1000 users\" - Is that good? Growing? Shrinking?
- •Vanity metrics - Page views and signups without retention
- •No targets - Metrics without goals are just numbers
- •Stale data - Last updated 2 weeks ago. Useless.
The 5-Second Rule
If someone can\'t glance at your dashboard and understand the state of the product in 5 seconds, it\\'s too complex.
- 1.Use color to show health (green = good, red = bad)
- 2.Show trends, not just snapshots (↗️ up, ↘️ down)
- 3.Highlight what needs attention
- 4.Hide everything else
💡
Dashboards Should Drive Action, Not Just Display Data
Bad dashboard: Shows 50 metrics. Good dashboard: Shows 5 metrics + what to do if they\'re off-track. Best dashboard: Auto-alerts when metrics need attention, so you don\'t have to check daily. Build dashboards that tell you what to do, not just what happened.
Key Takeaways
- •One dashboard per audience: Executives, Product teams, Growth teams
- •5-7 key metrics per dashboard. More = noise, less focus
- •Show trends and context, not just current numbers
- •5-second rule: Anyone should understand product health in 5 seconds