Unraveling the Pitfalls of Corporate Dashboards: Why Data Isn't Issue, but Product Thinking Is

In the recent decade, businesses have channeled significant investments into building sturdy data infrastructure. From extensive data warehouses to real-time pipelines and machine learning platforms, companies have established sprawling data ecosystems. But often, the management of this data leaves much to be desired.

Conflicting dashboards and inconsistent interpretation of metrics bear evidence to this. These point to not the lack of data or technological inadequacies, but a conspicuous absence of product thinking. Where teams once thrived under a data-as-a-service model, responding to small, reactive requests, an evolution to ‘data-driven’ operations has left them scrambling.

Take Airbnb’s metrics platform as an example. Prior to its launch, different teams pulled varying versions of standard metrics. The result? A mishmash of data, with conflicts emerging over the ‘correct’ metric rather than the required action. Such departures are not tech glitches. Instead, they underscore product failures, deteriorating trust in data, and dragging decision-making processes.

To remedy this, top companies have started employing Data Product Managers (DPMs). Unlike their generalist counterparts, DPMs navigate the breadth of often brittle and invisible cross-functional territories. Their arsenal of skills can help make sense of complex data problems, foster data trust, and ultimately drive business decision-making. It’s an exciting shift that reflects an evolving understanding of the art of managing data.