I don't mean to pick on @neonturbo, but I've seen this same statement made many times, and I think it deserves a little polite debate.
If one views a dashboard as a place to have device tiles that you turn on and off, then yeah, I personally don't see the point to that. That's what automations are for, and I can see someone looking at such usage with skepticism.
On the other hand, if one is creative, a dashboard is one of the best features of a good home automation system and I have several in my house that I couldn't do without. If nothing else, think of a dashboard as an infinitely extensible button device with user-friendly labels, color codes, and context. An old phone with a room specific bunch of buttons is far better than something like a WallMote - no need to put labels on the buttons!
For me, a dashboard is ..
A showcase - the only thing I can "show" guests that want to "see" my home automation system.
A place I can set my wake-up time, or disable the wake-up routine for tomorrow.
A place where I can enable/disable aspects of home automation such as "Suspend lighting automations", or "Tell Rosey NOT to vacuum next time I leave the house", or "Don't water the lawn tomorrow because I'm going to mow".
A single place to look to view battery status on all battery devices.
A nice place to look at the weather, radar, forecast, and pollen report.
A single place to see all 24 motion detectors in the house at once, as well as where last motion occurred ... is the cleaning lady done downstairs?"
A scene creator for the home theatre room .. I choose one on the fly while listening to music based on my mood
and on and on. @neonturbo, I'm perfectly fine with your or anyone else's lack of desire for a dashboard. I'm not trying to sell you on it. But can we please agree that it might be too much of a generalization to imply that no one needs a dashboard?
Yes, I did. I'm assuming you are referring to your saying that dashboards could use improvement. All are in agreement on that, I think.
I'm bringing to the Debate Chamber the notion that dashboards aren't needed in an automated home, and I beg to differ. It would be better to say that you haven't seen the need for them. I accept that.
Eh, no one in my house uses the dashboards I have. Like ever. EDIT: I did think of one use, actually... My wife uses the wall mount tablet dashboard to put the house in night mode when I'm not home.
I think the need for dashboards depends on how predictable/consistent your schedules and use habits are, how many sensors you are willing to put in, how good you are at writing rules/logic/code, and what mechanisms you have in place to override automations when the schedules/expectations don't line up.
Now see, that's where I (and perhaps others) take offense at the idea that you don't need dashboards if you know what you are doing in home automation. I would struggle to write logic to predict when I might feel like mowing the lawn and therefore want to suppress the sprinklers.
A dashboard is just another I/O device as far as I see it. A quite good one, at that.
Yes! Exactly my point. You may not find dashboards useful. I do. It is because we have different use cases and tactics, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Well read what I said again... I said AND to those items, not OR.
AKA...
if you're a good programmer but don't want to pay a bazillion $ for sensors to cover every need/permutation/situation/area - you may still need dashboards.
if you're a good programmer but have a widely varying schedule/needs - you may still need dashboards.
if you're a good programmer but just like things to do different stuff at different times based on your mood - you may still need dashboards.
One lets me set my 4 wakeup event times easily (much easier to use a tile with a variable time-entry field than to edit rules).
Then, I have one that shows me some key things while I'm away so I can explicitly choose which garage door to open as I'm arriving (no way for an automation to know that--and I don't want that sort of thing automated anyway.
Also, I often have some recalcitrant devices that don't do what they are told. I like to see which ones are left on when I go to sleep so I can force them off.
I also like to occasionally check out the temperatures in various places, etc.
So, there are plenty of reasons someone might want a dashboard.
“To each his own” isn’t that a famous quote? I don’t see the problem here. You want a dashboard make one. If your really good at automations and don’t need one, then don’t make one. Simple.
I have a tablet on the wall with a dashboard that I made in case something goes wrong and for the wife to use. Well guess what, the wife can’t even see the damn thing without her glasses which is 90% of the time so I am the only one that uses it.
I am not the greatest at automations but I do pretty good but I still use the dashboard on occasion. “To each his own”.
I not sure whether this conversation is best framed as a debate. I think for most people here, including on this post, it is very much a personal preference and to some extent the circumstances of the home. I don't know whether you will get a right or wrong answer, even for the same person. Discussing the reasons why people use dashboards or not, that is useful and can help people understand what may work for them.
For my contribution, I am one of those middle-of-the-road people, aiming to automate as much as I can, but still using dashboards for more discretionary control. I also like to use dashboards to provide information about temperature / humidity, as well as solar and power usage.
I have custom buttons on my phone that trigger various things, including one that pops up a submenu of all my dimmers and a single slider that controls the selected dimmer. Is that a dashboard for purposes of this debate
I setup a couple of dashboards using 2 Wink relays I had left over from my Wink days. At one point, one of them stopped working, and pretty much no one noticed...
Of the whole family, I am the only one that will use my dashboards, mostly on my iPhone/iPad for debugging, looking at Hubigraphs and occasionally to turn on or off a light.
I have the whole house automated in a way that works most of the time. Notifications I get from the LED on my Inovelli switches and from Alexa. When we need the occasional light to turn on or off, there’s Alexa or the wall switch.
I really love dashboards, but I have to say, I don’t use them very much...
Dashboards are not a big part of our family either. In our house simpler is better so I've tended to incorporate smart buttons for various stuff - lamp/sconce controls etc or use Alexa or Siri to kick off routines like "Good Night" (shuts off stuff/locks door etc). I guess it depends on what you are comfortable with.
I do think dashboards are something you have to get used to whereas physical type devices are generally quicker and easier to figure out.
Correct. But it's fun to pretend we're on the debate team.
Dashboards are an eye of the beholder thingy. I have a wife who DEMANDS manual control of automations even when she never uses it. She just wants belt and suspenders. Therefor we MUST HAVE dashboards. Not negotiable. I rarely use them to control anything, but like them to conveniently check status on certain sets of devices. E.g., are what are the temps of all my contact sensors in my cooktop. (Not making that up.)
In my house, the recent addition of a number of Alexa devices (and some education on what the devices are called), has really minimized the use of dashboards (or any other hands on control).
The only thing that I want, is a version of the first level apps (Simple Automation, Motion Control, Notifier, etc.) in a easy to use, simple app. I want it so that I can give that to a client and say "If you want to make simple programming changes, here is how you can do it."
(Besides, all the reviewers say that Hubitat has to have that to be competitive with other systems. It's a box that they check off, "Has easy to use app").
I'd really like all of my house to be fully automated, but between SWMBO and Kid, there is just no chance. Due to (maybe its my issue and not doing things right) me getting sick of lights turning off, because they didn't move enough etc. I created a "room status" switch for each room, and set up automations so when anything I select, turns on, this status switch also turns on. If I turn that status switch off, all devices selected turn off. This exists due to the above and their inability to turn things off when done. So I have this on my Dash, along with what's on etc.
Hitting the Office, will turn all off. The tablet is by my chair in the lounge, and it gets used a lot! But I would much rather they turned them off, or I found a better way of controlling what's on, when no one is in those rooms. I managed to crack it with the Kitchen at least.
Then there's music, I have it on all day long, and also like to mix it up a little. I don't want to use Alexa for that, and I cant automate that, so again my Dash gives me a way, via Spotify or streaming radio URLs.
I feel your pain @Royski re lighting and the need to change things up in situations that don't always lend themselves to a sensor, e.g. motion or contact. I was in a reasonably good spot with my Hue setup before moving my lighting to my new HE C-7, but am determined to persist with this setup as I believe it is a more feature-rich alternative to my Hue bridge rules. It has opened up alternatives such as virtual switches based on usage of my PC which I have posted about recently, along with integrating my Samsung contact sensors and buttons, though not strictly out of reach on my Hue bridge with CLIP sensors.
So as I make this transition from my Hue bridge to my new C-7 I am in a similar position where I need options to control lights outside of the rules / apps I am slowly setting up and testing. I do tend to favour physical options such as my Hue Dimmers and Tap switches, but dashboards are also a good fallback option, as I mentioned in my earlier post.
My take: If you don't want/need dashboards, don't make 'em for your system. There - solved (as many others have noted).
For me, HE's ability to easily create and manage simple dashboards, with things placed where I want them, was a big draw compared to other automation platforms (I've used several over the past 15 years). Yes, I have many things automated so that a dashboard isn't needed. But when I want it, i want it, and I'm glad that capability exists. All I ask is a better ability to insert new tiles, without having to move each, individual one.
I rarely use them to control anything, but like them to conveniently check status on certain sets of devices. E.g., are what are the temps of all my contact sensors in my cooktop. (Not making that up.) 
The tablet is by my chair in the lounge, and it gets used a lot! 
But I would much rather they turned them off, or I found a better way of controlling what's on, when no one is in those rooms. I managed to crack it with the Kitchen at least.
