A team's eval dashboard had 30 panels. Nobody read it. Important signals were lost in noise.
A useful eval dashboard has four panels. Anything beyond that needs justification.
The four panels
1. Aggregate pass rate. The headline number. Trending over time.
2. Per-cohort pass rate. Where coverage is strong and weak.
3. Failures. Recent failures with context. The team's actionable list.
4. Regression alerts. Red flags requiring attention.
These four cover the team's needs.
Reviewer ritual
Dashboard reviewed weekly:
- Aggregate pass rate trending.
- Cohort hot-spots.
- Recent failures triaged.
- Alerts cleared or escalated.
A real dashboard
A team's setup:
- Aggregate: line chart, last 90 days.
- Cohort breakdown: bar chart per cohort.
- Failures: table with input, expected, actual, version.
- Alerts: red banners for threshold breaches.
That's it. No more. Anything additional must clearly earn its panel.
Trade-offs
- Simple dashboards get read.
- Complex dashboards don't.
- The team's eyes are scarce.
Limits
The dashboard tells you something is wrong, not why. Investigation happens elsewhere (logs, traces, eval result storage).
What we won't ship
Dashboards with vanity panels nobody reads.
Aggregate-only dashboards. Cohort breakdown is essential.
No alerting. Trends without alerts get missed.
Dashboards that aren't reviewed.
Close
Reading an eval dashboard is a discipline of focus. Four panels. Each earns its place. The team's attention isn't squandered. Skip this and the dashboard becomes wallpaper.
Related reading
- Trend vs. threshold evals — what trends to watch.
- Eval result storage — data behind the dashboard.
- What makes an eval good — quality framing.
We build AI-enabled software and help businesses put AI to work. If you're improving eval dashboards, we'd love to hear about it. Get in touch.