Do the Dashboard collage
Clean Insights Extraordinaire Blog Series, Post No. 2
This month with the Clean Insights Symposium Extraordinaire our minds are on âdataâ. From our Dear Data activity last week, we learned that sometimes less data is more. And that the way we present data, while challenging, is vital in enabling people to digest the big picture. This week we are going one step deeper in and further up.
Close your eyes and repeat after me, "Minimum Viable Data". Let that sink in for a moment. đ€The typical school of thought around 'big data' isâ'collect everything and we'll figure it out later'. The Clean Insights approach is different. It encourages you to be precise in determining which data you need and what to measure. This activity will warm up your brain on this approach.
the difference: Clean Insights vs. typical analytics
Todayâs Activity
Dashboard Collage
With this activity, we are going to play out the full scenario of collecting measurements and assessing their usefulness when displayed on a dashboard. It provides a process for thinking critically about what questions you want answers to, imagining your dashboard narrative, determining which metrics you need to gather to tell that narrative and ultimately, getting you one step closer to understanding what is essential to improve your product. Watch the intro video to get started!
40 min +
individual/group
Materials
paper
magazines
pens or markers
glue or tape
brain space
Work solo or in groups. đ This is another great activity to get your kids or roommates involved in! When youâre done, share your dashboard collage! Extra points for dazzle!!
Instructions
1
What do you want?
What can your metrics help you understand? Is there are problem your metrics could help you solve? Or insight you need to improve your user experience or app performance? Decide what it is that you want to learn.
Prompts
Here are some of the questions open-source tools teams want to learn from their metrics. Take one and use it for yourself. :)
How are people using it?
Where do people spend time? And how much?
Are we fulfilling our mission?
How are people using a specific feature?
Does the app put users at risk or in danger?
Which languages? Which countries?
2
Which data points?
Map out the data points that would give the insight you need. Once you have a list. Give an example of how each data point would contribute to an aggregate insight on the dashboard.
Example
For Circulo, we want to know how people are using it. Weâre going to try to understand this through feature-related stats.
How often people post a new status: 22 new statuses this week; ~3 statuses per person
How many statuses are read and/or responded to: 80% of statuses are read by at least 1 person
How often people share their location 11 location shares this week
3
Imagine what youâll get.
Imagine your data points displayed on your dashboard. Experiment with how youâd want that data to be displayed. Consider which pieces of data belong side by side to tell a story. Are there any other data points you need to get a better understanding? When displaying the data, consider the following options:
Totals
Rates of change
Average duration
Increase over time
Sometimes throughout our process we need others to help us actualize our ideas, ask the tough questions or help us see gaps. If you are interested in working in a group or want to swap dashboards with another participant, let us know!
4
Share your Dashboard Collage
Every Dashboard communicates a story. Providing insight into the questions you are asking and allowing others to share in your realizations. Please consider sharing a picture of your Dashboard Collage at ANY step in the process. Ways to share:
Upload your photo in the riot discussion channel: #cleaninsights-discussion:matrix.org
Share a post on twitter and tag @guardianproject #cleaninsights
Send your photo to Okthanks via signal +1 209.396.5087
Send an email to hello@okthanks.com