Reports, dashboards and the question they are supposed to answer

The one-line test, taught before any report is built. Most dashboards fail it and nobody notices because they look busy.

1. VideoDoes this tell someone what to do today?A screen that presents facts and leaves the reader to work out the action is a report of the past. Name the decision first, then build.Preview6 min
2. VideoThe three screens every operational team actually needs7 min
3. ReadingInterrogating a dashboard request: five questions to ask the requester6 min
4. VideoA model opinion is not a measurement, and should never look like oneA model opinion is never rendered as a progress bar, because a progress bar reads as a measurement.7 min
5. VideoFacts versus decisions: sorting a stakeholder’s wish list into both6 min
6. LabLab: rewrite a facts-only request as a decision the screen answers6 min

Report types, formats, formulas and buckets. Enough to build anything most orgs need, and the tells that a report is lying to you.

1. VideoReport types, and the fields you cannot reach without a custom one7 min
2. VideoSummary, matrix and joined, chosen by what the reader compares6 min
3. ReadingCross-filters, and the report that excludes without a filter logic line7 min
4. VideoRow-level formulas, summary formulas and buckets6 min
5. VideoConditional highlighting, used to flag instead of decorate7 min
6. LabLab: build the report behind a real question6 min

Two reports on the same object can disagree honestly. Knowing why is worth more than knowing another chart type.

1. VideoWhy two reports on the same object disagree6 min
2. VideoHistorical trending and snapshotting, briefly7 min
3. ReadingReport filters, filter logic, and the AND that should have been OR6 min
4. VideoScheduling a report, and who actually reads the email7 min
5. LabLab: diagnose two disagreeing reports on the same object6 min

The default list view hiding a third of the book was worth more than the dashboard built on top of it. Find what a filter is quietly excluding first.

1. VideoDashboard components, and choosing a chart honestly7 min
2. VideoThe default list view that hid 35 percent of the book89 of 254 orders sat in statuses the default view excluded. Finding that was worth more than the dashboard built on top of it.6 min
3. ReadingFilters that quietly exclude a status nobody remembered to add6 min
4. VideoBuilding a dashboard around a decision rather than a chart library7 min
5. VideoColour, thresholds and the dashboard that tells you before you ask6 min
6. LabLab: rebuild a facts-only dashboard as an action list7 min

A dashboard nobody opens on a phone is a dashboard for a quarterly meeting. Delivery is part of the design, not an afterthought.

1. VideoRunning user, dynamic dashboards, and when the viewer is the wrong lens6 min
2. VideoSubscriptions, and the alert that replaces opening the dashboard7 min
3. ReadingThe mobile dashboard nobody opens on a phone, and why6 min
4. VideoFolder permissions, and who can edit the number everyone trusts6 min
5. LabLab: set a dynamic dashboard running as the viewer, correctly7 min

A screen is not finished when it renders. It is finished when its actual user confirms it tells them what to do.

1. VideoFinding the record a default view is quietly excluding6 min
2. VideoThe one-line test, applied to a dashboard you did not build7 min
3. ReadingWhy a progress bar reads as a measurement even when it is a guess6 min
4. LabLab: audit a live list view for what it silently excludesThe capstone lab. Take a real default list view, find every status it excludes, and quantify what that hid.24 min
5. VideoHanding a screen to its actual user before calling it done7 min
6. QuizCheck: reports and dashboards10 min