Looker Studio Dashboards That Actually Get Used

If your dashboard has more than three top-line numbers, no one will read any of them. Force a ranking.

If a chart doesn't trace to a top-line number, cut it. "Interesting" is not a reason to include a chart.

Schedule extract refreshes (15-min or hourly) so the page is always fast to open. Live queries against BigQuery on every load will make execs close the tab.

If the page scrolls, split it into two dashboards: an exec page (3 numbers + trend) and an operating page (the deep-dive). Link between them.

Use Looker's annotation feature to mark launches, outages and pricing changes on the time-series. A 40% spike with no explanation is a meeting; a 40% spike with a "launched referral" annotation is a story.

Every dashboard has one owner and a "last reviewed" date in the footer. Quarterly review: cut anything no one has opened.