Field notes
Briefing a dashboard designer without drowning in metrics
A useful brief is short. It names the audience, the review rhythm, and the two or three questions the dashboard must answer in the first five minutes of a meeting.
Include sample reports that people already trust, even if those reports are ugly. They reveal which columns leadership actually discusses. Attach a list of known disagreements about definitions; designers cannot invent consensus.
Describe the regions and roles who will open the views. A country lead scanning five provinces needs a different layout than a single-market operations head checking daily throughput.
State what is out of scope. If finance consolidation stays in another system, say so. Clarity here prevents weeks of rebuilding the wrong layer.
End with access notes: who can introduce the designer to report owners, and when sample data for a recent period will be available.