6.6Dashboard Design Principles

1. Simplicity

If the viewer needs more than 10 seconds to understand the dashboard's message, it is too complex. Remove anything that does not directly support a decision.

2. Actionability

Every element on the dashboard should answer: "What should I do about this?" If the answer is "nothing," the element should not be on the dashboard.

Actionable Element	Non-Actionable Element
"3 critical bugs open -- fix before release"	"Total tests: 605"
"Flaky rate increased to 7% -- investigate"	"Tests run today: 1,814"
"Partner API coverage: 40% -- below 60% target"	"Average test execution time: 42ms"

3. Context

Numbers without context are meaningless. Always include:

• Targets (what good looks like)
• Trends (is it getting better or worse?)
• Comparisons (vs last sprint, vs team average, vs industry benchmark)

4. Progressive Disclosure

Show the summary first. Let the viewer drill down into details if they choose.

Level 1: 🟢 Payment  🟢 Search  🟡 Admin  🔴 Partner API

Level 2 (click on Partner API):
  - 3 open bugs (1 critical, 2 major)
  - Coverage: 40% (target: 80%)
  - Last tested: 3 days ago

Level 3 (click on critical bug):
  - BUG-1234: API timeout not handled for batch requests
  - Impact: 500 partner transactions/day
  - Fix ETA: Sprint 48