simple-dashboard

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:

1. 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.
2. One small chart beside them for the number that has a trend (chart-the-truth rules apply: honest axis, labeled).
3. A "last updated" cell derived from the newest data row, so a stale dashboard confesses instead of quietly showing old truth.
4. 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.