Dashboards
Every project has a Dashboard tab. It is not a fixed report: it is a grid of widgets you choose, arrange, and size.
The goal is one screen that answers your standing questions, so you stop rebuilding the same filter every Monday.
Three layers of layout
Section titled “Three layers of layout”This is the part worth understanding first, because it is what makes a dashboard safe to fiddle with.
| Layer | Who sees it |
|---|---|
| Curated | The sensible default dotby ships. |
| Project | What a manager sets for the whole team. |
| Personal | Your own arrangement, visible only to you. |
Rearranging your dashboard does not change anyone else’s. If you want your version to become the team’s, save it to the project — and if you want your personal version gone, reset it and you fall back to the project layout.
The widgets
Section titled “The widgets”Up to 30 per dashboard, each one or two columns wide, dragged into whatever order you like.
Numbers
Section titled “Numbers”Stats — a compact row of counters. Pick which ones:
Total · Completed · In progress · Backlog · Completion % ·
Overdue · Unassigned · Due soon
KPI — one big number, for the metric you actually report on:
Total · Completed · Completion % · Overdue · Unassigned ·
Due soon · Created this week · Completed this week
The two “this week” metrics are the honest pair. Created against completed tells you whether the backlog is growing under you, which no single number can.
Breakdowns
Section titled “Breakdowns”| Widget | Shows |
|---|---|
| Status | Work per column |
| Priority | How much is genuinely urgent |
| Workload | Per assignee — the load chart |
| Modules | Work per workstream |
| Label | Work per tag |
Trends over time
Section titled “Trends over time”| Widget | Answers |
|---|---|
| Throughput | How much are we finishing per week? |
| Velocity | Is that rate steady, rising, or falling? |
| Scope | Is work being added faster than we close it? |
| Burndown | Will the current commitment land? |
Each takes a window of 4, 8, or 12 weeks. Eight is the usual choice: long enough to show a trend, short enough that a reorganization three months ago does not distort it.
Custom
Section titled “Custom”When none of the above is the cut you want, build one:
- Dimension — status, priority, assignee, label, sprint, module, type, or creator
- Measure — count of tasks, or the estimate total
- Chart — bar or donut
“Estimate total by assignee, as a bar” is a workload chart that respects task size instead of pretending every task is equal.
Measure: count or size
Section titled “Measure: count or size”Several widgets let you choose what you are counting.
- Count treats every task the same. Simple, and usually wrong for planning.
- Estimate sums the sizes. Better for “how much work is this really”, provided your team actually estimates.
If estimates are patchy, count is more honest than a total that silently ignores the unestimated half.
Widgets follow your modules
Section titled “Widgets follow your modules”A widget for a feature you have switched off does not appear. Turn off sprints in a project and burndown goes with it, rather than sitting there drawing an empty chart.
Dashboards elsewhere
Section titled “Dashboards elsewhere”The project dashboard is not the only rollup:
- A project folder has its own dashboard — one row per project, totalled.
- An initiative has a health trail, a delivery chart, and a projected finish date.
- A sprint has its burn-up while it runs.
Use the project dashboard for “how is this project doing”. Use the other three when the question is bigger than one project.
- Project folders — the level above.
- Run an initiative — outcome-level rollups.
- Modules — the breakdown one widget uses.