Beyond the Dashboard | Principle 10: Build Thinking Systems, Not Reporting Systems
Most teams have great dashboards that report the past, not systems that drive decisions. A thinking system starts with a clear question, ties metrics to actions, supports diagnosis, and treats AI as a partner for speed, not a substitute for judgment. Goal: better decisions, not prettier charts.
TL;DR (for those who know their dashboards are just well-designed wallpaper)
- Most companies have built excellent reporting systems that show what happened. They have failed to build thinking systems that help decide what to do next.
- A reporting system tells the story. A thinking system helps write the next chapter.
- We don't need more charts; we need reasoning structures that connect data directly to action and decisions.
- A true thinking system starts with a clear question, ties every metric to a potential action, and supports diagnosis when things change. If a metric changing leads to no action, it is decorative.
- AI can be a powerful partner in a thinking system, but only if it's used to accelerate diagnosis, not to outsource judgment. Dashboards aren't the ultimate goal; better decisions are.