If You’re Still Hunting for Answers, Your System’s Behind: The Energy Dashboard Trap

By Ron Swartz, VP Product, SoftSmiths | ennrgy.ai

The Energy Dashboard Trap

It’s 2025. Energy dashboards are better than ever—and still essential.

They help us make sense of sprawling datasets, surface trends, and give teams a shared view of what’s happening. In energy, they’re the foundation for situational awareness.

But even with the best dashboards in place, how often do your teams still find themselves flipping tabs, chasing signals across systems, and asking:

“Did something just change?  And… why does it matter?”

That’s not just a workflow issue.

That’s a visibility problem.

And a support problem.

Because if your system waits for someone to go looking for what matters, you’re already reacting too late.

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Still Feeling Cognitive Friction?

If dashboards were the answer, we wouldn’t still feel cognitive friction.

In my last post, The Hidden Cost of Cognitive Friction in Energy Operations, we explored how mental overhead, delayed clarity, and fragmented workflows slow down decision-making—especially under pressure.

This post continues that thread: asking why dashboards alone haven’t closed the gap, and what it takes to truly support the moment of decision.

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Dashboards Are Maps. But We’re Driving Blind Without Guidance.

Dashboards give us the map.

But in today’s energy environment—where prices spike in minutes, PPAs slip out of band by the hour, and risks ripple across 46 load zones—just having a map isn’t enough.

You still need a guide.

Dashboards show you where you are.But they won’t tell you:

• What the change means

• Why it matters now

• What worked last time this happened

• Or what to do next
  

They reflect the landscape.But they don’t move the decision forward.

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Where Dashboards Help—and Where They Stop

This isn’t an anti-dashboard post. Dashboards are critical.

They help:

• Organize complex data into something readable

• Surface key insights

• Track change over time

• Power visual thinking and shared decision-making

But they also require constant interpretation and manual follow-up.

A dashboard tells you what’s happening.

It doesn’t tell you what to do.

And in high-pressure environments, that gap—between seeing and deciding—is where clarity and margin can slip.

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The Real Shift Isn’t in the Data—It’s in Decision Support

Modern systems can do more than display information. They can frame decisions.

That means:

• Detecting anomalies and deviations from plan

• Embedding context: not just what changed, by why it matters—and what’s likely next

• Framing options: “Here are next steps—plus what worked last time”

It’s not about prettier charts. It’s about reducing mental load, accelerating time to clarity, and making confidence the default.

Because when a price spike hits or a hedge breaks down, your team doesn’t need more data.

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Legacy Workflow vs. Decision Support — What Changes

If this sounds familiar…	Here’s what it could look like
Manually dig through multiple dashboards	Get alerted when something important shifts
Unsure who should take action	Get clear handoffs with role-specific recommendations
Rebuild the big picture from scratch	Recall similar past situations instantly
React after the fact	Make confident decisions right on time
Spot issues too late to change the outcome	Get nudged early—with rationale and options
Rely on memory for past outcomes	Get reminded of what changed, why it matters, what to do

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Closing Thought: Don’t Just Surface the Data. Support the Decision.

Dashboards help us see what’s happening.

But when the market’s moving and decisions matter, even the clearest chart leaves teams asking:

“So… what do we do now?”

The next wave isn’t about more features.

It’s about designing for the moment of decision.

That means guidance. Foresight. Hindsight. Context.Delivered when it matters—not after.

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By Ron Swartz, VP Product, SoftSmiths | ennrgy.ai