A stakeholder asks for a dashboard but cannot clearly explain what decision they want to take. How would you handle this?

< 1 min read

If a stakeholder asks for a dashboard without a clear decision, I start by asking clarification questions about the business goal.
I ask what problem they are trying to solve or what action they want to take after seeing the dashboard.
For example, I ask whether the dashboard is meant for tracking performance, identifying issues, or supporting planning decisions.
I also ask which KPIs they currently monitor and what challenges they face with existing reports.
Then I identify the primary users and how frequently they will use the dashboard.
Based on this discussion, I translate the requirement into clear metrics and decision points.
I usually propose a simple dashboard wireframe to validate the understanding early.
This ensures the dashboard supports a specific decision instead of becoming a data-heavy report.

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