Judgment Signals
Judgment Signals are the specific patterns in a dashboard that are meant to shift how people see the situation: from “normal” to “pay attention”, from “probably fine” to “we need to talk”. They are more than updates — they are prompts for a different level of concern.
What we mean by “Judgment Signals”
Judgment Signals are data patterns that carry an implied message about risk or opportunity. A single bad day is rarely a signal. A repeated drop after a known trigger, crossing a threshold for long enough, is. Dashboards become decision-ready when these patterns are named and designed on purpose.
Why this changes how people read a dashboard
Without clear Judgment Signals, people either overreact to every wiggle or underreact to real shifts. Every change looks similar, so everything feels urgent or nothing does.
- Teams chase every small movement as if it were a crisis, burning time and trust on noise.
- Or they normalise early warning patterns because “it always bounces back” — until it does not.
When you will feel this term in real life
You feel weak Judgment Signals when the same chart can justify opposite reactions, depending on who speaks first.
- Inconsistent or overreactive decisions — one week a dip is ignored, the next week the same dip triggers a rush of actions.
- Endless debate “Is this serious?” — people cannot tell if a change crossed the line from usual volatility into a genuine signal.
Judgment Signals are where triggers, thresholds, and cadence meet: they are the patterns your dashboard is really asking people to respond to.
See this term in context
Judgment Signals are most visible here:
Related terms in this glossary
Judgment Signals are closely linked to:
Naming Judgment Signals helps you decide which patterns deserve colour, annotations, and discussion — and which can stay in the background.