Automated Reporting Without the Cringe

Automated reports fail when they replace a human-written narrative with a wall of charts. The charts were never the point — the narrative was. Automation that just removes the human also removes the meaning.

Good automated reports keep a one-paragraph narrative at the top, written by the person closest to the data, regenerated on a regular cadence. Everything else can be automated underneath.

If a stakeholder forwards your report without reading it, the report is failing — no matter how clean the charts look.