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storytelling with data podcast: #91 Dashboards that Deliver with Andy Cotgreave

·52 min·3 clips

Andy says a red Iraq war chart can be flipped to reveal a different story in the data.

Mike Cisneros welcomes Andy Cockgreave, a data communications author and speaker with over 20 years in data analytics and 15 years at Tableau. The conversation begins with a straightforward question about how dashboards should work, and then settles into a broader discussion of usefulness. Andy frames dashboards as tools for monitoring, decision-making, and communication rather than decoration. Mike and Andy also talk through the role of emotion in business communication. They separate calm monitoring from moments that call for an alert color or a stronger visual cue. That distinction becomes one of the episode's steady threads. The discussion then shifts into chart examples that do more than show mechanics. They spend time on the Iraq's Bloody Toll graph and why its downward red bars create such a visceral response. Andy explains how reversing or recoloring a chart can surface a different story in the same data. The example makes the point that visual form shapes interpretation. From there, the episode opens into generative AI and what it can and cannot do for data visuals. Mike keeps pressing with curiosity rather than hype. Andy answers in a way that keeps the focus on judgment. The episode also makes room for his book Dashboards That Deliver, which is described as soon to be released or just released depending on when you are listening, with a September 23 release date mentioned. Andy's broader work also comes through, including The Big Book of Dashboards, How to Speak Data, and Chart Chat. Those references help place him as someone who spends a lot of time translating data ideas for other people. The conversation stays relaxed and conversational throughout. It is not trying to sound academic. It keeps coming back to what people can actually do differently at work. That makes the episode feel like a workshop carried by two people who know the field well. It is especially strong when it moves from principle to example and back again. The pacing stays measured, and the tone stays collegial. The result is a talk about dashboards that is also about restraint, clarity, and when a chart should do more than report numbers.

As heard by us

A grounded talk about dashboards, alert colors, emotion, and chart choices.

Andy and Mike keep the conversation rooted in dashboard design, alert colors, and monitoring use cases before widening to Iraq's Bloody Toll chart and generative AI.

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Why you'd press play

Listen if you want dashboards explained like a working craft, not a theory lecture.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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