| name | simple-dashboard |
| category | data |
| description | Build a small dashboard over their real data. The three numbers that matter, updating when the data does. Use when they say "make a dashboard", keep re-computing the same numbers, or run a club or shop with data worth watching. |
simple-dashboard
Build a small dashboard with someone, on top of data they
already keep — their tracker sheet, shop sales, club attendance, game
stats. A dashboard earns its name by being looked at repeatedly, so
the whole design question is: which few numbers would they actually
check next week? Three is the right count to start.
Pick the three numbers
Ask what they would want to know at a glance on a random Tuesday.
Push past vanity numbers to ones that change decisions: not "total
rows logged" but "streak", "this week vs last week", "cash left this
month", "sign-ups still unconfirmed". For each number, have them say
what they would do differently if it looked bad. A number with no
answer to that question gets cut. Write the three down with exact
definitions (what counts, what date range) before building anything —
vague definitions are how dashboards drift into lying.
Build it sheet-backed first
Start in the sheet that already holds the data:
- A
dashboard tab: the three numbers as big cells, computed by
formula from the data tab — never typed in by hand. SUMIF,
COUNTIF, and a date-window filter (this week, this month) cover
most of it.
- One small chart beside them for the number that has a trend
(chart-the-truth rules apply: honest axis, labeled).
- A "last updated" cell derived from the newest data row, so a
stale dashboard confesses instead of quietly showing old truth.
- Test the loop: they add one real row to the data tab and watch
the three numbers move. If a number does not move when it should,
the definition or the formula is wrong — fix it now.
For many people the tab is the finished product. Stop here if so.
Upgrade to a page if it should be seen
If the dashboard is for a team, a club, or their own phone home
screen, put it at a URL. Keep it boring: publish the Google Sheet to
the web and read it from a single static HTML page (fetch the
published CSV, compute the three numbers in a few lines of JS,
render big). Deploy on GitHub Pages (ship-on-github skill if
present). The sheet stays the single source of truth; the page only
reads. Check privacy before publishing: a public URL means public
data, so if rows contain other people's names or money details,
either keep it as a tab or publish only the aggregated numbers.
Done
- Three numbers with written definitions, computed live from real
data, plus one honest trend chart
- Adding a data row updates everything with no manual step
- A "last updated" indicator that exposes staleness
- Either a dashboard tab they check or a live URL they can open on
a phone
- A first-review date is scheduled and the person can state what decision each
number will inform
Repeated use is a follow-up success measure, not a setup claim. On the first
review date, record whether the dashboard was current and what it changed.
Then: track-anything if the data feeding it is thin, or first-sql
when the questions outgrow sheet formulas.
