When executives and data analysts think data analytics, the vision that likely pops into their heads is an executive dashboard. An executive dashboard is a collection of metrics and trends that shows the current state of a department, an initiative, or an organization overall. A common analogy is an airplane's cockpit array (which have also improved dramatically). When used effectively, Dashboards can be invaluable in identifying changes, monitoring progress, timely decision-making, and even strategic planning.
John Egan, Growth Engineer at Pinterest, believes that it is critically important to only track metrics that you are going to use. He says, “Don’t build metrics that aren’t going to be part of your day-to-day operations or don’t have potential to be incorporated as such. Building reports that no one looks at is just activity without accomplishment and is a waste of time.”