Measure and improve · Core
Set up a product dashboard
A dashboard puts the numbers that matter in one place, so the team can see how the product is doing every week without waiting for reports.
About 1-3 daysEvergreenLast reviewed 5 November 2026
Who this applies to
- Skills it builds
- Data and measurement
- PM types
- All
- Product types
- All
- Starting points
- All
- Ways of working
- All
- Experience
- All
- Size of organisation
- All
Steps, by experience
Beginner (under 1 year)
- Put your main success metric at the top, with its target.
- Add the supporting metrics and guardrails under it.
- Show trends over time, not just today's number, and mark key releases.
- Keep it to one screen. If it needs scrolling, it has too much on it.
- Review it with the team every week and note what changed and why.
Intermediate (1 to 4 years)
- Build a dashboard around the primary metric, inputs and guardrails.
- Show trends, targets and release markers.
- Add breakdowns for key user groups.
- Use it in a weekly team review.
Experienced (5+ years)
- Link the dashboard to the north star metric and its input metrics.
- Use a framework such as HEART to cover user experience, not just business numbers.
- Add automatic alerts for big changes.
- Make the dashboard the basis of regular business reviews.
Who can do this
Owner: Product manager
Can be delegated to
- Data Analyst or Performance Analyst: Build the dashboard and check the numbers are right
- UX Designer: Help make the dashboard clear and readable
Reviewed by: Data Analyst, Tech Lead
Tool examples
- Looker
- Build the dashboard on shared metric definitions so everyone sees the same numbers.
- Power BI
- Create a one-page report with targets and trend lines.
- Amplitude
- Build a dashboard of saved charts and share it with the team.
- Google Analytics 4
- Use a custom report collection for the main journeys.
Definition of done
- Dashboard shows primary metric, supporting metrics and guardrails
- Trends and targets visible
- Weekly review in place
Common pitfalls
- Too many charts to read
- Numbers nobody trusts
- Looking at it once and forgetting it
If you lead the team
What good looks like: Teams look at a small set of meaningful numbers every week and act on them.
Ask your PM
- What does the dashboard tell us this week, and what are we doing about it?
- How does it link to our north star metric?
Warning signs
- Dashboards exist but no one looks at them.
- Lots of numbers, no decisions.