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20 Comments

What should a small-team operations dashboard show first?

Small teams can end up checking one sheet for attendance, another for hours, another for leave, then assembling a payroll estimate separately. I wanted to see whether those handoffs are easier to inspect in one editable workspace.

I put together a sample Workforce Box with Overview / Attendance / Timesheets / Leave / Payroll. It includes sample rows and CSV import/export; the payroll page is an hours-based estimate only. It is not live attendance tracking, a payroll integration, or payroll processing.

If you work with this flow, try editing a sample attendance or timesheet row in the demo: https://blockmade.tech/?utm_source=indie_hackers&utm_medium=community&utm_campaign=phase0b_100activated&utm_content=ih_overview_workforce

Which one change would you expect to see on the Overview, and what would you still have to check in a separate spreadsheet?

on September 24, 2026
  1. 1

    Really relatable. How much time do you put into this each week?

  2. 1

    Good point. Did you test that with users before committing to it?

  3. 1

    Solid lesson. Which channel has worked best for you so far?

  4. 1

    Clear and practical, thanks. Did anything surprise you along the way?

  5. 1

    What made you pick this stack over the alternatives?

  6. 1

    Clear and practical, thanks. Did anything surprise you along the way?

  7. 1

    Curious how long it took before you saw the first real results?

  8. 1

    Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?

  9. 1

    Curious how long it took before you saw the first real results?

  10. 1

    Exceptions, not totals. The three I'd want on the Overview: hours logged on a day someone is marked absent or on leave, approved leave that overlaps a submitted timesheet, and anyone whose week is still missing entries by Friday. Totals I can get from any sheet. The mismatches are what I'd otherwise find by hand the night before payroll.

    What I'd still check in a separate spreadsheet: overtime rules and public holidays. They differ by country and contract, and if they're hard-coded wrong, the estimate looks right while being off.

  11. 1

    This resonates a lot — how long did it take before you saw any real signal on it?

  12. 1

    Thanks for writing this up. Bookmarking it for later.

  13. 1

    Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?

  14. 1

    Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?

  15. 1

    Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.

  16. 1

    Curious how long it took before you saw the first real results?

  17. 1

    This is useful. How are you finding your first users so far?

  18. 1

    Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

  19. 1

    Whatever you open every morning without thinking. If it's not that, it's decoration.

    1. 1

      Agreed—the first view should earn its place by answering the question someone checks each morning. In the demo, I put Overview ahead of separate Attendance, Timesheets, Leave, and Payroll pages; I’m testing whether that hierarchy matches a real workflow. Your point is a useful test: what do you usually need to know first?