You’re trying to visualize data for a report. How do you know which metrics to focus on?

Selecting the appropriate metrics for a report involves clarifying its purpose and objectives, considering stakeholder needs, reviewing available data, and prioritizing impactful and actionable indicators. Balance is essential to avoid overwhelming the audience while providing a comprehensive view of performance within the specified time frame. These steps ensure that the report effectively communicates insights to support informed decision-making.

When it comes to choosing metrics, there are a few questions that have to be addressed before proceeding. 1. Based on the given data, what do I need to convey to the stakeholders? 2. Who are my target audience and what information would be the most relevant for them to make decisions. Once these have been figured out, taking a look on boarder perspective like any factors influencing the decision in certain way, for example, any notable difference in sales performance across regions or product categories. And finally while building a dashboard, just choosing the most relevant data that would help to make data driven decisions would be wise so we can avoid information overloading

A good alternative to SMART is also looking at your goals through common threads of interest, investment, involvement, inculcation, and inspiration are the pillars of engagement with your stakeholders and customers. Looking at metrics that includes sentiments are key differenciators for your journey

Metrics that accurately and reliably measure what you need them to measure, even if they're complex, are better than metrics that are "easy to understand" but are less accurate or measuring the wrong thing altogether. Similarly, "easy to compare" against benchmarks/others is not a good enough reason to choose a metric - however, "easy to compare" as in using a normalized metric (e.g., a percentage or ratio) rather than a raw number, is an important factor to consider.

As Simon Sinek says: the journey towards your customer starts with ‘WHY’. In my methodology, this is always the first question I ask when my client wants a report. “Why is it needed”. Several goals can be defined, like exploration, explanation, confirmation or even persuasion of data. When you know the goal, you need to get into the mind of your audience. Get to know their pain points, knowledge of the business, and their vision of data (meaning how they can handle data). Knowing your audience and knowing why they want to use data, you can define the what. And operational report for instance has a bigger chance to include a detailed table, in comparison with a strategic report that mostly contains actionable KPI’s.

* Identify the report's goal: Clearly define what you want the audience to understand or take away from the report. * Consider your audience: Tailor the metrics to their level of understanding and interests. * Brainstorm relevant metrics: List all metrics potentially linked to the report's goal. * Prioritize based on importance: Evaluate each metric's significance in conveying the core message. * Ensure data quality: Verify the accuracy and completeness of the data for chosen metrics. By following these steps, you can choose metrics that effectively showcase your data's insights and resonate with your audience.