Storyboarding Dashboards Before Building
Most dashboard rewrites happen because the first version was a raw data dump. Storyboarding forces intent before SQL and point‑and‑click charting consume hours.
Why Storyboard?
Stakeholders often ask for “a dashboard” when they really want a recurring decision tool. Storyboarding clarifies the job before we freeze layout or wire metrics to refresh pipelines.
Question Tree First
I map every element to a parent business question. If a chart doesn’t answer a question, it either becomes a drill or gets cut.
Narrative Zones
Zone 2 – Drivers: Breakdowns explaining change (channel, segment, SKU).
Zone 3 – Actions: Outliers, anomalies, backlog prompts.
Zone 4 – Detail: Table or exportable slice for deep dives.
Wireframe Fidelity
I sketch grayscale blocks (Figma or pencil) with annotations like “% vs prior 7d” or “Selectable Channel Chips.” Avoid premature color/branding—focus on hierarchy.
Adoption Guardrails
- Single KPI per card headline.
- Use small multiples before dropdown jungles.
- Default sort = decision‑making order (not alphabetical).
- Limit filters; log usage to prune later.
Iteration Cadence
Week 1 storyboard → Week 2 prototype (static data) → Week 3 production pipeline → Week 4 adoption review.
Dashboards that tell a story get opened. Dumps get ignored.
Takeaways
- Storyboard = cheaper iteration.
- Anchor visuals to explicit questions.
- Design narrative zones intentionally.
- Prototype with static data first.
- Review adoption and prune noise.
Try storyboarding the next “quick dashboard” request. It rarely adds more than an hour and saves days.