Project Dashboard

A web app for small engineering teams to track projects.

Design exercise

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Problem

Small engineering teams lack simple, affordable tools for project tracking. Existing solutions are complex, process-heavy, and require significant setup, adding admin overhead rather than reducing it.

overview

Designed a lightweight web app dashboard for small engineering teams to maintain project visibility with minimal setup. Scope covered the dashboard and project creation flow.

Personal Goals

Reduce setup friction. Prioritise scannable status visibility. Support flexible workflows over rigid processes.

Users

Who is it for? In what context?

Two main roles: team managers (assign, monitor, track) and team members (understand responsibilities, check status).

Primary device: desktop.

ideas

Back to the drawing board.

Early exploration involved rapidly sketching multiple dashboard layouts before selecting a Kanban-based approach.

Solution

A visibility-first dashboard. Not a full project management system.

Board (Kanban) and Table views
Projects grouped by status; drag-and-drop updates
New projects default to Inbox for quick capture
Tags, assignees, contributors, deadline visibility with overdue highlighting
Project detail view for subtasks and notes
Prominent "Add Project" CTA

Intentional constraints

You can't have everything.

To maintain simplicity and reduce setup time, several features commonly found in project management software were intentionally excluded:

Complex dependencies: Projects were assumed to be largely independent. Inter-reliant tasks requires maintenance. It was deemed that the management and team can manage this themselves.

Sprint planning frameworks: Setting rigid and fixed timelines and meetings often isn’t practical in small companies where people need to remain more flexible. The product allows users to move projects between states when they need to be moved.

Design Decisions

The visual system was designed to reinforce calmness and usability.

Green was chosen as the primary colour to reflect clarity, calmness, and growth. Neutrals derived from the primary colour were chosen to maintain visual harmony. The font Manrope was selected for readability and modern simplicity.