In today’s data-driven world, clients don’t just want beautiful dashboards — they want insightful, accurate, and user-friendly tools that help them make smarter decisions. If you're leading a Tableau Prep and dashboard project for a client, your role as a project manager is crucial. You're not just managing tasks — you're managing expectations, insights, and impact.
Here’s how to be the kind of project manager who consistently delivers value and earns client trust.
🧩 1. Understand the Business Problem — Not Just the Dashboard
Start by asking the right questions:
- What decisions will this dashboard support?
- What does success look like for the client?
- Who are the end users, and what do they really need to see?
Too often, dashboards are built based on data availability, not business needs. Great PMs bridge the gap between business goals and technical output. If you understand what the client truly needs to know, you’ll guide the team to build dashboards that matter — not just ones that look good.
📅 2. Plan with Iteration in Mind
Don’t aim for a perfect dashboard in one go. Instead:
- Build in feedback loops: Sketches → Review → Refine
- Share sketches early to validate logic and layout
- Prioritise the most impactful KPIs in the first round
Clients often don’t know what they want until they see it. By planning for iteration, you create space for exploration without derailing timelines.
📢3. Communicate Like a Pro
Strong project managers are great translators — turning business language into data tasks, and technical output into business value.
Keep stakeholders informed:
- Use short, frequent updates rather than long, occasional ones
- Surface blockers early (e.g., "We need access to X system to complete the data pipeline.")
- Manage expectations transparently, especially when requirements change midstream
A confident communicator earns trust — and trust buys time and flexibility when needed most.
🛠️ 4. Stay Close to Data Quality and Logic
Even if a dashboard looks polished, it’s useless if the numbers are wrong or misleading.
Ensure:
- Ensure KPIs are calculated correctly
- Filters and date logic align with the client’s reporting cycles
- The underlying data model in Tableau Prep supports the final visual
As PM, you don’t need to write the logic, but you must own the accuracy of what the client sees. One mistake can erode trust in the entire solution.
🎨 5. Champion Simplicity and Storytelling
A good dashboard is not a data dump. It's a narrative — showing the right metrics in the right order, with just the right amount of interaction.
Advocate for:
- Clean layouts with clear titles and filters
- Consistent color logic as well as taking into consideration clients branding
- Tooltips and drilldowns only where they add value
You're not just delivering a dashboard — you're delivering a tool for insight.
📁 6. Prepare for the Handoff
Too many data projects end in confusion because there’s no clear handoff. Be the PM who delivers clean closure:
- Provide documentation (data sources, logic, filter behavior)
- Walk the client through how to use and refresh the dashboard
- Plan for training or support if needed
The smoother the handoff, the longer your work will last — and the more likely the client will come back for more.
Finally...Be the Glue That Holds the Team Together
In a Tableau Prep and dashboard project, you’re not just the project manager — you’re the glue that keeps the team aligned and moving efficiently. Your role is to coordinate efforts, set clear deadlines, and define the scope so everyone knows what can realistically be delivered within the time frame.
By keeping the team focused and the work structured, you help prevent burnout, missed targets, and last-minute scrambles. A well-scoped and well-timed project doesn’t just deliver quality dashboards — it delivers them with confidence, clarity, and client satisfaction.
What does a typical week client project look like at the data school?
