Dashboard - Part 2

Wait, hold on, what exactly is a dashboard anyway? After talking with Sadie a little, it occurred to me that the term "dashboard" is a little business-y, and that the way I was using the word, might not mean the same for everybody else.

For me, a dashboard is a visual display of data (or an aggregation of data) that makes it easy to see how you're performing relative to your goals. Well, how do you know what it will look like? It depends on the behavior you're trying to promote. It's good to show what the goal is and your progress/performance relative to that goal. Dashboards can be fun and creative - there are tons of ways to display the same information.

With that in mind, the dashboard I came up with is just for my personal dad goals. Not a lot of data here, so the displays are pretty simple, but I think they get the job done. Okay, so it's really not much of a dashboard yet, but it has some potential. Go to the Dad Dashboard page to see it.

As part of the dashboard, I also wanted to be more aware of the kids' needs. I thought, what could I put in the dashboard to help me help them? I wanted to create a profile for each of them, thinking through their personality, how they learn, their challenges, areas for growth, etc.

I started with personality. Instead of trying to label them with a personality type from any personality test, I instead tried to find words that describe them. I stumbled upon the Big 5 Personality Traits, and talked through them with Sadie on our way to the temple this weekend, trying to figure out where Arilyn and Micah fall.

It was much harder than I first thought. In our very unscientific approach, we recalled different instances of how the kids have reacted in different situations and how we've seen their personality manifest itself. It was difficult to separate actual personality from just life as a two-year old. I'm not sure how accurate our assessments were, but it was still a very productive conversation to think about their personalities, and the best ways we can to do work with them.

Next week I'll fill out the kid profiles a little more, and hopefully polish up the dashboard too. If this isn't dad-driven fatherhood, I don't know what is. :). Of course, the data is in no way a replacement for warm, human, intutive interactions. I just hope to give myself more tools.

Oh, and Happy Father's Day!