My view on management dashboards

I have encountered many different kinds of management dashboards over the years. I’ve been there, I’ve done that!

Let me share a story of what happened when one of my managers left the company. It turned out that he had protected his people.

When my manager had left I learned that his manager wanted to introduce some 50+ metrics. This lead to a number of meetings with a measurement expert. I sent photos of the metrics the development teams used themselves, and argued that I didn’t want to impose any additional measures, but to no avail. It turned out that it was now my turn to protect people.

Metrics can be useful, but managing with dashboards is like driving a car by looking in the rearview mirror. The metrics may be accurate, unless people play the system, but they are almost always too late to act upon. Nevertheless, it provides an illusion of control, especially if you add some mathematical precision.