Treat the request as under specified and find the decisions behind it. Ask what they would do differently based on what they see, and how often they will look. Then build something small: five or six metrics with trend and context rather than raw numbers, clear definitions, and an obvious owner. Resist adding every available filter, since an executive dashboard should answer questions, not enable exploration.
Why interviewers ask this
Interviewers use this to assess requirement gathering and, just as importantly, restraint. Analysts who build whatever was literally asked for tend to produce dashboards nobody opens twice. The signals they are listening for are questions about decisions and review cadence, a deliberately small metric set, context rather than bare numbers, and a plan for ownership, maintenance, and trust.
How to structure your answer
- Convert the vague ask into decisions and a review cadence.
- Agree a short list of metrics and their exact definitions.
- Design for context: trend, target, and comparison, not bare numbers.
- Keep interactivity minimal for an executive audience.
- Plan ownership, freshness indicators, and a review after a month.
Example answer
The request as stated cannot be built, so I would go and ask what decisions they make with this, what would make them pick up the phone, and whether they look at it weekly or daily. That conversation usually converts how is the business doing into four or five specific questions. Then I keep it small. Six metrics maximum on the first screen, each with a trend line, a comparison to the prior period, and a target if one exists, because a number on its own is not information. I write the definition next to each metric, since the first question is always what counts as active. For an executive I deliberately keep filters minimal; if they need to slice by region there is a linked page for that, but the front page should answer without configuration. Then I add a last updated timestamp, put my name on it as owner, and book a review in a month to cut whatever they never looked at.
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See how it worksFollow-up questions to expect
- How do you decide which metrics make the front page?
- What do you do about a dashboard nobody uses after two months?
- How would you show data freshness and quality on the dashboard?
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