The Fatal Power BI Mistake 97% of Users Make (Are You One of Them?)

The Shocking Reason 90% of Dashboards Get Abandoned—and How to Fix Yours Today!

Author

Glenda Carnate
June 17, 2025

Read time: 3 minutes

Let me guess: you’ve built a dashboard. You spent hours (or paid someone else to do so). And now? Nobody uses it.

It’s not your fault. The problem isn’t the data. It’s not even Power BI.

It’s how you’re thinking about dashboards in the first place.

Why Do Your Dashboards Collect Dust?

You built something "powerful." Something "comprehensive." Something... no one uses.

The brutal reality? Most dashboards are built for the wrong person.

  • The analyst builds for the VP,

  • The VP builds for the CEO,

  • The CEO never looks at it.

Meanwhile, the person who actually needs the data is stuck exporting to Excel.

The 3 Non-Negotiable Skills for Dashboard Success:

Forget coding. Forget "data expertise." These are the real skills that separate useful dashboards from digital ghosts:

  1. The Art of the Dumb Question:

    • The best dashboards start with embarrassingly simple questions.

    • "What’s actually slowing down our sales?" beats "Show me all sales data."

  2. The "So What?" Filter:

    • Every chart, metric, and slicer must pass this test.

    • If you can’t explain why it matters in 5 seconds, kill it.

  3. The Lazy Person’s Mindset:

    • The best dashboard builders are fundamentally lazy.

    • They automate everything because they hate doing things twice.

The Only 5 Power BI Features You Need to Master:

Stop trying to learn everything. These are the tools that deliver real-world impact:

  • Power Query – Turn messy spreadsheets into clean data in minutes.

  • DAX Essentials – Just enough formulas to make your data dance.

  • Desktop vs. Service – Know where to build vs. where to share.

  • Dataflows – Set it up once, reuse it forever.

  • Slicers & Filters – The difference between clarity and confusion.

What Successful Teams Do Differently?

  • They start with the executive’s #1 pain point – Not the data they have, but the decision they’re struggling with.

  • They build "ugly first" – A functional prototype beats a polished failure.

  • They obsess over mobile – If it doesn’t work on a phone, it doesn’t work.

The Dashboard Hall of Shame (Avoid These at All Costs):

❌ The "Data Dump" – Every metric crammed into one unreadable page.

❌ The "Ghost Dashboard" – Beautiful, interactive… and never used.

❌ The "Meeting Trophy" – Only gets opened during quarterly reviews.

Your 24-Hour Dashboard Rescue Plan:

  1. Find one frustrated decision-maker (They’re easy to spot; they’re using Excel).

  2. Build the simplest possible answer to their biggest headache.

  3. Force them to use it for 48 hours.

  4. Iterate based on their curses and compliments.

STOP SCROLLING - DO THIS NOW!

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