I've worked with data and reporting systems for many years, and one thing I've noticed is that companies love dashboards.
We build reports, track numbers, create charts, and spend a lot of time trying to make information easier to understand.
But sometimes I wonder, are we actually making better decisions because of all this data?
I've been reading Evaluation in Organizations by Darlene Russ-Eft and Hallie Preskill, and it got me thinking about how we use information in business.
Having data is one thing. Understanding what it tells us and knowing what to do with it is something else.
More Reports Don't Always Mean Better Decisions
In IT, we spend a lot of time connecting systems, building reports, and making sure the information is accurate.
And that's important.
But just because we can measure something doesn't mean we need to.
I've seen reports with so many numbers, charts, and filters that it's hard to know where to start.
Sometimes we get so focused on building the report that we forget to ask why we need it in the first place.
Who is going to use it? What are they trying to understand? What decision will they make from it?
I think these questions should come before building another dashboard.
A simple report that helps someone make a decision can be more useful than a beautiful dashboard with 50 different numbers.
Are We Measuring the Right Things?
Let's take an IT support team as an example.
A report might show that the team closed 500 tickets last month.
That sounds productive.
But what if 200 of those tickets were the same problem happening over and over again?
The report tells us how much work was done, but it doesn't tell us whether things are improving.
Maybe the better question is why those problems keep happening.
The same idea applies to other departments.
A sales team might report how many calls they made. HR might track how many employees completed training. Operations might measure how many jobs were completed.
Those numbers are useful, but they don't always tell us whether we're getting the results we wanted.
Sometimes we measure what's easy to count instead of what really matters.
Numbers Don't Tell the Whole Story
I enjoy working with data because it helps us see things that might not be obvious.
But data doesn't always explain everything.
Let's say a company introduces a new process and productivity goes up by 15%.
That's good news.
But what caused the improvement?
Was it the new process? Did employees work longer hours? Was there less work to begin with? Did something else change?
Looking at one number doesn't always give us the answer.
This is where I think talking to employees, understanding the process, and asking questions becomes just as important as looking at the report.
A dashboard can show us what's happening, but sometimes we need to talk to people to understand why.
Start With the Question, Not the Report
One idea I keep coming back to is that we should start with what we're trying to understand.
Before asking IT to build another report, maybe we should ask a few simple questions.
- What problem are we trying to solve?
- What do we want to know?
- What information do we already have?
- How will we know if things are getting better?
- What will we do differently based on the results?
These questions might sound basic, but I think they can save a lot of time.
I've worked on reports where the hardest part wasn't the SQL, the data, or the dashboard.
It was understanding what the business was actually asking for.
And sometimes, after a few conversations, we realize the original report request wasn't really what was needed.
The business needed an answer, not necessarily another report.
Good Data Still Needs Good Judgment
I also think it's important to remember that data helps us make decisions, but it shouldn't make every decision for us.
Two departments might have similar numbers but very different challenges.
A report might show that one team is slower than another, but maybe that team handles more difficult work or has fewer resources.
Without understanding the situation, it's easy to make the wrong conclusion.
This is why I believe managers need both data and a good understanding of how their teams work.
Numbers are important, but so are experience, conversations, and knowing the people behind those numbers.
What Happens After We Get the Results?
This is another part of reporting that I think deserves more attention.
We spend time collecting data, cleaning it, building reports, and presenting the results.
Then what?
Did we learn something? Did we change a process? Did we solve a problem? Did we make a better decision?
Or did the report become another file that nobody opens?
I think this is where program evaluation becomes useful.
It's not just about checking performance. It's about understanding what's working, what's not, and what we should do next.
And sometimes the answer might be that things are already working well.
That's useful information too.
Final Thoughts
I don't think companies have a shortage of data.
If anything, we probably have more than we know what to do with.
What we sometimes need is a better understanding of which information matters and how to use it.
As someone working in IT management, I enjoy building systems that bring information together and make it easier to access.
But I also believe the real value isn't in the dashboard itself.
It's in what people learn from it and what they decide to do next.
Maybe the next time someone asks for another report, the first question should be:
What decision are we trying to make?