· 1 min read
Fewer charts, better questions
What 18 interviews with small-business owners taught me about dashboards.
- product design
- data viz
When we asked owners what they wanted from analytics, they said “more reports”. When we watched them use it, they wanted reassurance.
The three questions
- Am I okay? — one number, one sentence, a colour that isn’t red unless it should be.
- What changed? — the two biggest movements since last week, in words.
- What’s next? — a forecast you can drag, because nobody trusts a line they can’t argue with.
Everything else moved one click deeper. Usage went up, not down.