A client asked me to work on a dashboard with them a while back:

"How do we get all the data in there in real-time?"
"How many KPIs do we need?"

...all solid questions but off the mark. Let’s think of your business as a car to simplify the thought process.

Imagine the dashboard in your car and how it evolved. Right now, you just have a couple of indicators there and they serve you just fine. Even though you could measure a ton of things, your car just tells you:

- speed
- revolutions of the engine
- oil level
- gas level
- some warning lights in case of trouble where you should pull over

They focus on the task at hand: getting you where you need to go, safely and within the limits.
Could you use more... sure! But is it helpful for the job at hand?

What Changed When Cars Evolved?

Think of how automation impacted your car's dashboard. Maybe you got an automatic instead of a manual shift at some point, so all of a sudden the "revolutions of the engine" indicator lost its meaning to the driver.

Think about the debate around "real drivers who need to feel the car" — stick vs. automatic. It mirrors today’s AI conversation.

When I moved to an EV a couple of years ago, I noticed how some old indicators disappeared… and new ones showed up. The terrain is always moving, also for your teams... so don't see a dashboard as something that is set in stone. And especially when you start out, you can actually just build the dashboard as you go along. Make it easy to change — both mentally and financially.

Jumping back to the car metaphor: the early cars didn't tell you the speed... you could get a sense of that from the surroundings, but it was a good idea to have an idea how much gas you still had left. Same goes for your business — pick data that makes sense and that helps you achieve your objective instead of displaying all the data you can find.

There's a good reason why the first phase of dashboard development is often nicknamed:

"Here's all your data, good luck!"

So Let's Stay with This Line of Thought:

Driving stick gives you control.
You feel the gears, the torque, the terrain.
But it’s harder to master, and easier to stall.

Automatic? Smoother. Faster. But also easier to disconnect from the road.

The core here is clarity and direction. What is our goal, our north star?

If we're in the racing business... we may want that manual control to push the vehicle to its limit.
If we're just delivering parcels in a busy city, an automatic may be more appropriate.
And sometimes, going faster doesn’t even get you there sooner — it just increases the risk.
What are you optimising for?

Other times, we pick tools based on identity — not needs.

> “Real drivers use stick.”
> “Real leaders track everything.”

It's worth asking: is this about control… or about control signals?

---

We shouldn't fall for the illusion that automatic always frees us, or the inverse — that we need control over everything and thus need all the data all the time.

Your dashboard should reflect your goals. A clear and limited number of indicators that support the current mission... front and center like in a car. Some more detailed data deeper along the dashboard to understand what's going on, like looking under the hood of your car.

You don’t need all the data. You need the right signal to move and steer.

So build as you go... better to have a basic dashboard with some "disaster stopper" indicators at first (a flashing light if the engine overheats or you run low on gas) over a much more detailed one that will not be ready for another couple of months and makes you drive blind in the meantime.

You don’t need a perfect dashboard to make good decisions. You need one that reflects your mission and helps your team steer.

Start simple. Iterate. And evolve when the terrain shifts.

Having clarity and a north star is the foundation for all this.

I’ve seen teams (not only seen — I’ve been that team) spend months building a dashboard… only to realize they were watching the wrong dials. But the investment is made at that point, and strategy slides into reporting theatre.

I help data and analytics leaders build the foundation for decision systems that evolve with their mission — not just dashboards that look good in meetings.