Dumpster Dashboards: Why ‘Data-Driven’ Can Be Meaningless

Most dashboards drown teams in data. Design dashboards that turn raw signals into decisions, moving from information to action with a real drilling example.

The Illusion of Being Data-Driven

Everyone claims to be “data-driven.” But a lot of software just dumps information. It displays data instead of directing action.

If your dashboard doesn’t make decisions easier, it’s not a driver, it’s a dumpsite.

I’ve worked on many dashboards. Ideas were never the problem. Our design team even joked about management’s dashboard obsession. Presenting and plotting endless data looked impressive until we asked the mood-killing question: “why?”

That’s when the illusion cracked. Asking “why?” moved us from information overload to software that drives insight and action.

Available ≠ Valuable

We measure everything because we can. Data is cheap, access is easy, storage feels endless.

But available doesn’t mean valuable. Information only gains worth when it changes how someone thinks or acts.

To create value, you need more than content. You need context. That’s what allows you to retrieve meaning from data and turn it into action.

A lot of that context still lives in people’s heads. With AI, we get the chance to surface more of that hidden context.

But there’s a catch: generative AI. If you’re not careful, you’re right back to square one. Just producing more information.

Making more data available ≠ making data valuable.

Information Inflation

Information inflation is the paradox of abundance: as supply rises, value falls. Each added chart, feed or KPI fights for the same slice of attention. Producing information gets cheaper; turning it into action gets expensive.

We spend more time finding and setting context. The burden grows when data isn’t delivered on demand but stockpiled “just in case.” The years of celebrating the mere existence of all this data are behind us. If we don’t shift toward measurable meaning, we’ll drown in the very data we collect.

Data-Fueled, Not Data-Driven

Data on its own is just fuel, not the driver. To actually drive, you need direction.

Direction comes from insight, and insight needs context. Without that, “data-driven” is just data-fueled.

How Data Becomes a Driver

In oil and gas operations, I once worked on a dashboard that had to help decide when to stop a drilling operation because of high risks.

The raw information was vibration data coming from the equipment. Instead of just plotting those vibrations on a graph and asking people to stare at it all day, we moved to indication. We set thresholds on the values and added a custom icon set that showed how far things were moving off target.

That meant operators could see at a glance when something entered the problem zone without watching charts nonstop.

The next step was moving to interpretation by adding context. Depending on the stage of the operation we were about to enter, the same vibration level could mean very different things. So we showed live data about location and stage alongside the indicators, so people could read the situation, not just the numbers.

From there, we got to insight: we flagged upcoming stages as “at risk” based on that pattern. And finally, we tied it to action by adding mitigation buttons. In our case, options to slow down, pause or adjust the operation before things went wrong. Same data, but transformed from raw information into a clear path to act.

You only drive when data travels through these five transformations:

Information → Indication → Interpretation → Insight → Action

Each step adds context and clarity. By the time you reach action, data has meaning. It actually helps you drive.

Design’s role is to make those transitions visible and usable.

• Design a system that doesn’t dump data on screen.
• Decide what’s meaningful before you start collecting.
• Don’t capture what you don’t need.
• Distribute data on demand.

Clarity Over Quantity

Dashboards fail when they stop at information. Great systems don’t dump information.

Available ≠ Valuable.
Information ≠ Action.

Design for meaning, not volume. Turn dashboards into tools that actually make people act.