The Most Expensive Dashboard Mistake You Can Make
- Sarah Rajani
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
How to save hours on dashboard projects by managing scope creep.
The biggest hit to your dashboard project isn’t bad data. It's not even the wrong visuals, or forgetting to add that one metric you didn't think was needed.
It’s realizing you built the wrong thing.
And the worst part is that you usually don’t realize it until you’re halfway through the build.
Many of us have experienced this at some point. I know I sure have.
But I can tell you this: I will never make that mistake again. Let me tell you why...
My Most Expensive Lesson
A few years ago, I built a dashboard I thought was amazing. (We all think our work is amazing, don't we?).
It was one of my biggest projects at that time, and it involved multiple, large data sources, a massive SQL query, and everything my stakeholders asked for. At that time, anyways.
Halfway through the dashboard build, one of the stakeholders mentioned that it was a "great start," but that some discussions had been taking place and the definitions for a few of my the main KPIs were changing. Discussions I didn't even know were going on, but I wasn't in the loop.
That single sentence wiped out three weeks of work. Why? Because a small definition change means the logic in my query needs to completely change. Every CTE or temp table that feeds off of another needed to be adjusted and accounted for, and new fields incorporated.
You know the drill.
And just like that, my “finished” dashboard became a draft, again.
But the deadline stayed the same.
If you’ve ever had to rebuild a dashboard, you know exactly how that feels. The rebuild can take as long as (or even longer than) the original build. It would have been easier to start from scratch, but I just didn't have the time.
Even though this "communication" issue wasn't a fault of my own, it happens, and it happens more than we like to admit.
All I knew then was that I needed to make sure I had every piece of information I needed from the start. That way, when things inevitable change, it's easier to document and share with my stakeholders.
If you made it this far, you'll probably like my other posts.
Subscribe to the newsletter:
Dashboards Fail Before They’re Built
That project taught me something that completely changed how I work:
Most dashboards don’t fail in the build stage.
They fail in the scoping stage.
This is where expectations get fuzzy, assumptions slip in, and scope creep comes to play. But by the time you notice, you’re too far into the build to fix it without throwing away weeks of work.
What Scope Creep Looks Like in Dashboards
Scope creep is when a project quietly increases in requirements after it’s already started, without changes to timelines, resources, or expectations. In dashboard builds, it rarely comes in one big dramatic request. Instead, it trickles in through “quick tweaks” and “minor adjustments.”
It looks like this:
Adding new KPIs halfway through the build.
Realizing the audience has changed and now needs a different view.
Swapping visuals because “we actually want to see it this way.”
Adding extra pages, filters, or data sources late in the process.
Each change seems harmless on its own… but together, they can mean rebuilding large parts of your dashboard. And rebuilding is expensive in time and missed opportunities for other work you could have been delivering.
Why Dashboards Are Especially Prone to Scope Creep
Dashboards are living products in the sense that they are constantly evolving. People don’t always know exactly what they want until they see it.
You show them the first version, and suddenly they get excited and their eyes open up to new ideas:
“What if we could drill down by region?”
“Can we connect it to this other dataset?”
“Let’s add a forecast trend line here.”
Those ideas aren’t wrong; sometimes they can make the dashboard better. The problem is when they’re dropped in mid-build without resetting the plan.
The Solution that Saved My Sanity
After that painful rebuild, I promised myself that it would never happen again. I needed to make myself accountable to what I was building, but also keep my stakeholders accountable. Things change, sure, but adding in new requirements mid-project is not a habit anyone should be getting into. And it certainly wasn't something I wanted to reinforce.
I needed clear, agreed-on requirements from the start. None of this back-and-forth that seemed to keep happening.
The problem I found myself in was that most templates I found online were made for generic projects, not dashboards. They didn’t cover the the questions analysts need answered before touching Power BI, Tableau, or SQL, like:
Which KPIs and metrics are truly business-critical.
The real source of the data (versus what people think it is).
Who will actually use the dashboard, and how often.
What “done” really means for this specific build.
What is considered out-of-scope and not part of the project. (This was a big one I needed to document up front!)
So I leaned into my documentation experience and built my own dashboard scoping template:
A simple, focused document that gets everything on the table before the first visual is built.
How It Changed My Projects
Now, every dashboard I build starts with that doc, and it makes my builds go much smoother:
It forces the conversations that prevent misunderstandings later.
It gets everyone on the same page about what’s in scope, what’s out of scope, and what success looks like.
When change requests come in mid-project, I can point back to the scope and ask:
“Do we want to adjust the timeline, or create a new request?”
That one sentence has saved me countless hours, avoided unnecessary rebuilds, and even improved stakeholder trust. No one likes to push back a deadline, but it happens, and if there is an established document to look back on, it's much easier to get buy-in.
The Takeaway
The most expensive part of a dashboard isn’t the build.
It’s the rebuild.
Scope creep isn’t going away. It's part of the process. But it doesn't have to make your work harder. Just realize that stakeholders will always have new ideas, data will always evolve, and priorities will shift.
The trick isn’t to fight it completely, but to contain it so you can still deliver a good dashboard or report on time, without burning yourself out.
For me, that means starting every dashboard project with a clear, documented scope.
A solid dashboard requirements gathering process is kind of like the cheapest insurance you can buy for your projects. And once you’ve seen how much time, energy, and frustration it saves, you’ll never start another build without it.
If you have a dashboard build (or rebuild) on the horizon, you'll want a scoping doc as well. I've shared my exact template on Gumroad, with some example placeholder text in each section to help you set up yours.
Whether you create your own checklist or use mine, having that structure in place will save you hours of rework and a lot of frustration.
If it saves you from even one rebuild, it’s already paid for itself.
Grab your scoping template here.
Since you read all the way through, here’s a special reward:
🎁 Use code 9SJRRGJ at checkout for 50% off.
Enjoyed this post?
I write about data, career transitions, and making analytics easier to understand.
Subscribe to my newsletter to get the latest posts.
If you want more content, I post regularly on LinkedIn, so connect and say hi!
