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5 Brutal Truths Every COO Must Face About Power BI!

5 Brutal Truths Every COO Must Face About Power BI!

These truths make or break analyst careers and determine whether your data drives action or collects digital dust.

Glenda Carnate
October 07, 2025

Read time: 2.5 minutes

You think your dashboards are working. You think your analysts are delivering insights. But here’s the brutal reality: most dashboards are ignored, errors waste hours, and bad design silently destroys decision-making.

Every COO faces the same challenge… ensuring that data doesn’t just exist, but actually drives results. If your dashboards are failing, it’s not just an IT problem. It’s a leadership problem.

Here are the five truths that will either make your analytics thrive or break your team’s credibility.

Truth 1: Your Dashboards Aren’t Read — They’re Ignored

Problem: Dashboards should be simple. Every element must highlight key metrics within five seconds. (DOMO, 2020)

Fix: Strip down visuals to only the most essential KPIs and prioritize clarity over complexity.

Truth 2: Refresh Failures Waste Hours Daily.

Problem: Refresh errors are a top issue for Power BI users and can stall decision-making. (Augmented Tech Labs, 2025)

Fix: Implement incremental refresh, monitor gateways, and set up alerts to catch failures immediately.

Truth 3: Bad Charts = Bad Decisions.

Problem: Missing titles, vague legends, unexplained abbreviations, or inconsistent axes create confusion and can mislead decision-makers. (LinkedIn, 2024)

Fix: Standardize chart design, use consistent labels, and establish a peer review process for every report.

Truth 4: Over-Engineered Models Kill Trust.

Problem: Complex dashboard layouts slow performance and reduce confidence in analytics. (Tableau Masters, 2024)

Fix: Simplify models, move calculations to ETL, and remove unused fields to maintain speed and clarity.

Truth 5: If Users Don’t Trust Numbers, Dashboards Die.

Problem: Inconsistent or bad data undermines decisions and user confidence. (Atlan, 2023)

Fix: Build strong data governance, maintain a single source of truth, and ensure transparency across reports.

Key Takeaways:

Simplicity wins. Dashboards must deliver clarity, not decoration.
Reliability builds confidence. Users trust data that refreshes smoothly and consistently.
Design is strategy. Good visuals protect against bad decisions.
Performance equals trust. Slow models signal chaos behind the scenes.
Transparency sustains usage. When users see where data comes from, they keep returning.

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