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I Stopped Trusting Dashboards — and Started Trusting Data Models Instead
For a long time, I believed that a good dashboard meant reliable insights. Then I watched multiple “perfect” dashboards contradict each other — and realized the real problem wasn’t the visuals, but what lay underneath them.
For most of my career, dashboards were the goal.
If the chart looked clean,
If the KPIs turned green,
If stakeholders nodded in meetings,
I assumed the data was solid.
I was wrong.
After enough late-night investigations, uncomfortable executive questions, and “Why doesn’t this match?” moments, I learned something that fundamentally changed how I work:
Dashboards are easy to trust — and dangerously easy to get wrong.
Data models are boring — but they’re where truth actually lives.
This is the story of why I stopped trusting dashboards… and started trusting data models instead.
1. The Moment Dashboards Lost My Trust
It happened during a routine meeting.
Three dashboards.
Same business.
Same time period.
Three different numbers.
