storytelling with data podcast: #92 Why Dashboards Die—and How to Save Them With Allison Horst

About this episode

Simon chats with Allison Horst about the reasons dashboards fail and how to create effective data products through collaboration and feedback.

In this episode of the storytelling with data podcast, Simon chats with Allison Horst—developer advocate at Observable, educator, and beloved data illustrator—to explore the difference between dashboards that get used and those that don’t. They dig into why so many data products go to waste, the importance of co-creating with your audience, and the overlooked power of early feedback. Allison reflects on her experiences helping people go from "I built this thing" to "This actually gets used"—and how teams can better collaborate to avoid dashboard graveyards. Along the way, they talk about environmental storytelling, visual metaphors, teaching the “gray areas” of data viz, and why curiosity (not perfection) is the key to lasting impact. Related Links: Check out Allison's work at: https://allisonhorst.com/ Connect with and follow her on LNKD: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allison-horst/ Order SWD's latest book, Before & After https://www.storytellingwithdata.com/books

People in this episode

Host: Simon

Guest: Allison Horst

Topics covered

• dashboards
• data visualization
• collaboration
• audience engagement
• feedback
• environmental storytelling

Keywords

• dashboards
• data products
• co-creation
• feedback
• data visualization
• curiosity
• environmental storytelling

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Observable, storytelling with data

Books & works: Before & After

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