AP-0003Anti-Pattern · Ownership
Frequency
HighBlast radius
HighTime-to-detect
VacationFix effort
MediumThe single point of knowledge
One person knows how it works. They're out until Monday.
executive_pipeline_dashboard
CFO weekly review
17 LOD calcs · 9 params
Owned by
PTO until 6/10Maya
Backup coverage
No secondary owners
9 days
Until Maya returns
2
CFO reviews in between
17
Undocumented calcs
0
People who know why
Scout sees
the dashboards where you're one person away from chaos.
- Workbook has single owner, no certified backup.
- Documentation last updated 14 months ago.
- Owner's calendar shows scheduled time off.
What Scout asks you to do
because Operator can't cross-train a teammate.
- Name a backup owner before PTO begins.
- Schedule a 30-minute walkthrough on Monday.
- Capture the "why" alongside the "what" in docs.
How to spot it yourself
- Someone says "only [name]", "ask [name]", or "[name] built it".
- A critical dashboard's last editor is the same as the original author, years later.
- You feel a flash of dread when their out-of-office reply lands.
TableauOps · Scouttableauops.com/anti-patterns/0003