Intro to Dashboards

Video Placeholder Duration: 5-7 minutes Topics covered: What are dashboards, creating dashboards, widgets, customization

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What are Dashboards?

Dashboards are customizable visualization pages that give you a bird's-eye view of your projects. Instead of digging through individual projects, see key metrics and charts in one place.

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Why Use Dashboards?

Without Dashboards

• Check each project individually
• Mentally aggregate data
• Create reports manually
• Hope you notice issues

With Dashboards

• See all key data at once
• Visual patterns emerge
• Spot issues immediately
• Share insights easily

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Enabling Dashboards

Dashboards are a Pro-tier feature:

1. Go to the Dashboards section in your workspace sidebar
2. If not visible, check Workspace Settings
3. Start creating dashboards

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Creating a Dashboard

Step 1: Start New Dashboard

1. Click Dashboards in the sidebar
2. Click Add Dashboard or New Dashboard

Step 2: Configure Basics

Field	Description
Name	Descriptive title (e.g., "Engineering Metrics")
Projects	Which projects to include data from

Step 3: Add Widgets

Click Add Widget to start building your dashboard.

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Widget Types

Dashboards are built with widgets — visual components that display your data:

Bar Charts

Compare quantities across categories:

• Work items by state
• Items by assignee
• Items by label

Line Charts

Track trends over time:

• Velocity over sprints
• Items created vs completed
• Burndown progress

Area Charts

Show volume changes:

• Work completed over time
• Cumulative flow

Donut/Pie Charts

Display proportions:

• State distribution
• Priority breakdown
• Type composition

Number Widgets

Simple metric counters:

• Total open items
• Items completed this week
• Overdue count

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Configuring Widgets

Each widget has three configuration areas:

Data Selection

Choose what data to show:

• Property to visualize
• Metrics to calculate
• Filters to apply

Appearance

Customize the look:

• Color schemes
• Legends
• Tooltips

Styling

Fine-tune display:

• Fill colors
• Borders
• Markers

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Building a Dashboard Example

Executive Dashboard

┌─────────────────────┬─────────────────────┐
│   Total Open Items  │   Completed Today   │
│        47           │         8           │
├─────────────────────┴─────────────────────┤
│           Work Items by State             │
│   [██████████████████████████████████]    │
│   Backlog  Todo  In Progress  Done        │
├───────────────────────────────────────────┤
│       Velocity Over Last 6 Sprints        │
│              📈 Line Chart                │
├─────────────────────┬─────────────────────┤
│  Items by Priority  │  Items by Assignee  │
│    🥧 Pie Chart     │    📊 Bar Chart     │
└─────────────────────┴─────────────────────┘

Team Performance Dashboard

• Items completed per team member (Bar)
• Sprint velocity trend (Line)
• Current workload distribution (Pie)
• Overdue items count (Number)

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Using Dashboards

View Mode

Default mode for viewing:

• Hover for detailed tooltips
• Click legends to filter
• Refresh data

Edit Mode

Toggle to edit mode to:

• Add/remove widgets
• Rearrange layout
• Configure settings

Interacting with Widgets

• Hover — See detailed values
• Click legend — Toggle category visibility
• Drill down — Some widgets link to underlying data

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Dashboard Best Practices

Purpose-Driven Design

Create dashboards for specific audiences:

• Executive: High-level metrics
• Team Lead: Team performance
• Individual: Personal metrics

Not Too Many Widgets

Keep dashboards focused:

• 4-8 widgets per dashboard
• Most important metrics first
• Add detail in separate dashboards

Meaningful Metrics

Choose metrics that drive action:

• ✅ "Items completed this week" (actionable)
• ❌ "Total items ever created" (not useful)

Regular Review

Keep dashboards relevant:

• Remove unused widgets
• Add new metrics as needs change
• Archive outdated dashboards

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Dashboard Examples

Sprint Health

• Burndown chart
• Items by state
• Blockers count
• Sprint progress %

Quality Metrics

• Bugs by priority
• Bug fix rate trend
• Escaped bugs count
• Time in review

Capacity Planning

• Work per team member
• Upcoming due dates
• Backlog size trend
• Velocity average

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Key Takeaways

• Dashboards visualize project data at a glance
• Build with widgets: charts, numbers, and graphs
• Pro tier feature
• Configure data, appearance, and styling per widget
• Create purpose-driven dashboards for different audiences
• Keep dashboards focused with 4-8 meaningful widgets
• Review and update regularly

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Next Steps

Organize your company knowledge with Wiki.

Next Lesson: Intro to Wiki