# The Dashboard Test

Does your dashboard earn its place?

Use these questions on one real decision. Unknown is a useful answer. This is a review aid, not a score or certification.

- [ ] **Who is looking, and why?** Name the person, the moment and the question they bring. “See how we’re doing” is a starting point. What would tell them something needs attention?

- [ ] **Can they trust what they are seeing?** Check the period, comparison and source date. Missing data should look different from zero. A count without context can send you after the wrong problem.

- [ ] **Can they look into what changed?** Show enough evidence to investigate a pattern. A falling number does not explain why it fell.

- [ ] **Can they decide what to do next?** Follow the path from the finding to the relevant work. Keeping things as they are can be the right decision.

- [ ] **Does the next step have a home?** If action is needed, keep the next step, agreed owner and review date in the existing work record. A dashboard should not become a second task list.

- [ ] **Will the next review teach them anything?** Check what happened after the decision. What you learn from doing the work should help you improve how the work gets done.

- [ ] **What could we remove without making the job harder?** Consider an unnecessary metric, duplicate report or extra handoff. Keep the comparisons, source limits and records the reader needs. Removal is an option, not a requirement.

## Does it need to be a dashboard?

Could an existing list, report, alert or conversation do the job with less effort? Reporting, reassurance and deciding not to act can all be valid purposes.

## Leave with one decision

- Reader and job:
- Evidence checked and important unknown:
- Verdict: keep / change / replace or do not build / not enough evidence
- Main gap, if any:
- One improvement or smaller alternative:
- What to observe at the next real review:

Version 1.1 · October 31, 2026 · Rob Saric
Guide: https://robsaric.com/toolbox/dashboard-test/