At work, there’s a single spreadsheet I keep open at all times. I check it first thing in the morning and leave it running in the background throughout the day.
It’s not just a tracker. It’s not a glorified checklist. And it’s definitely not your typical Jira dashboard—the kind that looks official but feels abstract. This spreadsheet is something else entirely. It’s the command center for the main project I’m apart of.
Not a typical SaaS dashboard. More like the flight deck on a spacecraft. Data displayed in air traffic control panels or cruise ships.
Built for action. Not just observation. This thing doesn’t just tell me what’s happening. It helps me decide what to do next.
Dashboard
This sheet is dense. It’s semi-automated. And it’s very intentionally designed.
It’s got completion percentages. A countdown to launch. A chart that shows not just progress—but momentum.
You’ll find breakdowns of team tasks by state (to-do, in-progress, complete), breakdowns by person, breakdowns of alpha and beta feedback, counts of open pull requests, and a running tally of triage needs.
That’s just above the fold—roughly the top 18 rows.
But the most important detail?
In the top-left corner, in a box about 475 x 130 pixels, the entire project is distilled down into two key numbers:
- How much is done.
- How much time is left.
Anyone—engineer or exec—can open this sheet and get it. No ramp-up. No decoding. Just immediate context.
Because this wasn’t built to impress. It was built to orient.
Disclosure
The spreadsheet is open to everyone at the company. That’s not an accident. That’s the whole point.
I didn’t build this to be a private cockpit. I built it so anyone—teammate, partner, stakeholder—could sit in the chair, look at the panel, and say:
“Ah. That’s where we are.”
This thing removes the guesswork. Anyone can see the pace. The rhythm. The breakthroughs. The stuck points. The pivots. No more asking for updates. No more waiting for reports. No more wondering where things stand.
You just check. And you know.
It’s the most boring-sounding feature with the highest-leverage effect: total visibility.
Decisions
Most dashboards are reactive. You check them when something breaks. Or when it’s time to write a weekly summary.
But this one? It’s always on. And 90% of the time, I don’t even touch it. I just look at it. Not to analyze. Just to sit with it.
It’s like opening your fridge—not because you’re hungry, but to see what’s in there (possibly to prepare for your next grocery run). What’s fresh. What’s running low. What might go bad. What could become dinner if you moved a few things around.
Nothing’s changed inside. But something changes in you. You start to see patterns. Sense gaps. Make quiet decisions that shape the next move.
That’s what this dashboard does for me. Quietly. Daily. It’s not just a source of truth. It’s a place to listen.
Comms
Here’s the real takeaway. A spreadsheet can do more than calculate. It can communicate. Clarity isn’t just numbers. It’s narrative.
It can carry the heartbeat of a project. Show the pace. Spotlight the mess. Surface the shape of progress. It can guide decisions—not just for you, but for everyone. Anyone who opens it should walk away knowing:
Where we are. What matters now. What comes next.
You don’t need a fancy tool. You need visibility. You need alignment. You need something that helps everyone—yourself included—literally be on the same page.
That’s what this command center is for. It’s clarity on demand.
And once you have it?
You’ll wonder how you ever moved without it.