Power BI Developers: Are You Over-Engineering Dashboards?

🚨 Just because you can add more features, doesn’t mean you should.

✅ Prioritize clarity over complexity
✅ Focus on business questions, not visual tricks
✅ Avoid unnecessary slicers and bookmarks
✅ Don’t bury key insights behind too many clicks

💡 Simplicity is a superpower in dashboard design.

🧩 Scenario: The Dashboard That Did Too Much—and Delivered Too Little

Context:
Tom, a skilled Power BI developer at a fast-growing SaaS company, was asked to create an executive dashboard to monitor product usage, churn risk, and revenue growth.

He was excited to showcase everything Power BI could do:

Used field parameters for dynamic visuals
Added 20+ bookmarks for navigation
Embedded drillthroughs, toggle buttons, and custom tooltips
Layered visuals behind visuals to create an app-like experience

The Problem:
The dashboard looked amazing—but no one was using it. Feedback included:

“It’s too complicated.”
“I don’t know where to click.”
“I just want to see key numbers without jumping through hoops.”

The dashboard wasn’t wrong—it was just over-engineered. In trying to impress, Tom had unintentionally buried the insights.

💡 The Turning Point

Tom decided to simplify. He met with executives to understand what they actually needed:

Clear monthly KPIs
Simple trend visuals
A snapshot of churn risks without interaction

He redesigned the dashboard:

✅ Removed unnecessary toggles, bookmarks, and slicers
✅ Placed the top 3 KPIs front and center
✅ Streamlined navigation with one clear layout
✅ Used consistent visual types to avoid interpretation issues

The result?
The dashboard became a go-to tool in monthly leadership meetings—no training required.

🧠 Key Lessons

Power BI offers amazing features—but use them with purpose.
More interactivity ≠ more insight.
Simplicity leads to faster understanding, better decisions, and higher adoption.

💬 Question for You

Have you ever over-engineered a dashboard and had to scale it back?
What did you remove to improve usability?

🛠️ Tips to Avoid Over-Engineering Your Power BI Dashboards

Prioritize clarity over features.
Just because Power BI can do something doesn’t mean your users need it.
Focus on the key business questions.
Make sure every visual answers something important. If it doesn’t—consider removing it.
Avoid excess slicers, filters, and bookmarks.
Too many options confuse users. Stick to the ones that directly support decisions.
Keep navigation intuitive.
Users shouldn’t need to click five times or explore hidden bookmarks to find core insights.
Use consistent visuals.
Switching between too many chart types makes comparison harder. Consistency = clarity.
Design for your least technical user.
Assume someone opening the dashboard for the first time needs to “get it” in under 10 seconds.
Test with real users.
Sit down with a few users and watch how they interact with the report. If they get lost, simplify.
Use tooltips and labels—don’t hide insights.
Critical information should be visible, not tucked away in a tooltip or hidden visual.
Minimize scrolling and excessive tabs.
If users have to dig for information, they might miss what matters most.
Adopt a “less is more” mindset.
The most powerful dashboards are the ones people can use effortlessly—not the ones that try to do everything.

Disclaimer: This post was put together with a little help from AI. While it's a great tool for drafting and brainstorming, AI can make mistakes—so always double-check the facts and don’t rely on it blindly.

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