Your Feedback Needed: Dashboards as Home Page 🏡

I'm intrigued. 

This will help new users with a functional dashboard right out of the box. 

What about adding an inbox widget? 

I'm still looking for better ways to prioritize tasks to separate the critical from the many across spaces (but this might be a me problem and not a Wrike thing 😅)

The concept seems quite beneficial at first glance. However, it's essential to have a simple method to switch back/forth to the Inbox or the company's standard dashboard or a custom dashboard. For instance, if I've set my customized dashboard as my home page but I want to switch to the company's default dashboard—whose name I might not know—a homepage selector with an option to revert to whatever is the "company default" (set by the admin) would be the way to alleviate any concerns. In Microsoft Edge & Google Chrome, there is a home page selection screen that could be useful to emulate in some fashion.

Here's my highly technical drawing using that Edge homepage selection screen as a foundation:

Further, if there could be a way for admins to "push" this change to users. Some aren't comfortable with changing settings, even their own, so there will be users that likely miss the feature.

This would be very beneficial for onboarding new members and also for helping some of our less-savvy folks navigate Wrike more easily. I second the idea for an inbox widget on the standard dash.

I really like Mike's idea above about an inbox widget.

I find this suggestion to have beneficial potential especially among users that have to use Wrike for their roles but aren't heavy users and find it difficult to navigate. Having the dashboard as a default home would help to enable a set up where the important things they need to know, and view are located in one location that is easy to access.

Firstly, I think this is a great idea. 

We've had some teams set a Dashboard as the default "home" page for their team space, and that has worked well. 

I can see using the dashboard we set up that displays assigned tasks and projects on the first section and then all submitted requests to other teams in the second section as a default home page for everyone. 

Idea/question: Can we set a different default dashboard based on the user group assigned? And whatever user group is added first wins as the primary group for the default dashboard? Or could we add a default dashboard like we can add a Welcome Item at user invite? 

I like this approach, having a dashboard be the default home page makes a lot of sense for our workflow as we have most of our users working out of either a custom-built dashboard or a dashboard that we've pre-built. 

Additionally, our new users typically need some hand holding to find the pre-built dashboard we've built for them. 

It would also be helpful to customize this by user type or just by users - for example our full time users have one dashboard to work out of, but contractors that we invite as external users have a contractor-specific dashboard. 

I do think it would be critical to have an Inbox widget then so users don't have to click back and forth between the inbox to address comments and notifications.

I think it depends on what content/data is on the Dashboard.  In our Account, we built a "My To-Do Dashboard" shared with the entire account that would work well as a home page but users mainly use it to Duplicate it to their Personal space so they can customize it and make it their own. Pre and Post Lightspeed implementation we did have users who missed the old home page because they could view their Inbox + their Spaces + their Pinned Items all on one screen with the ability to customize it.  Now that the home page doesn't exist anymore most users have updated their Browser Bookmark for their entry point into Wrike - some bookmark their favorite dashboard, some bookmark to the inbox and others bookmark to the My To-Do list depending on preferences.  So, whatever "home page dashboard" is developed it will need to have the opportunity to be customized, should they choose to.

I agree with Mike Fank on the need for an Inbox widget - great idea!

I like the idea of setting a Dashboard as a homepage as it would help start folks off on the right foot first thing in the morning when they log in.

I would like to suggest that maybe we have options as to what users can set their homepage to: either a dashboard, our inbox, a calendar, a folder, a project, etc.. They key here would be the fact that they can change their homepage themselves, which I believe is implied in this proposal :) I think giving people the option to set their homepage as whatever they'd like, among all types of features/items, would allow them to do their best work, especially since our users' roles vary so much. Everyone works a little differently and not all users are comfortable with dashboards, so it would be great if they can set their homepage to whatever they are most comfortable with and always give them the option to change it as they progress.

Thank you for your feedback and ideas here 💡

Lisa Community Team at Wrike Wrike Product Manager Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover

Lisa Wrike Team member Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover

This is an excellent discussion, as it ends up touching on something I’ve always found surprising: the “My Tasks” page in Wrike feels underdeveloped compared to its potential.

In many project and task management tools, “My Tasks” serves as the central hub or home page, offering extensive filters, widgets, and customization options. However, in Wrike, “My Tasks” seems to be underutilized by most users I’ve encountered due to its limitations.

The new Dashboards, on the other hand, come packed with functionality that could transform “My Tasks” into an engaging and highly effective personal workspace. A possible solution could involve:

•Redesigning “My Tasks” as a Dashboard: By default, it could include essential widgets like My Tasks and Inbox.

•Customization: Allow users to personalize this default Dashboard or even replace it with an existing Dashboard.

•Admin/User Control: Provide flexibility for users or admins to set the default landing page when opening Wrike (e.g., Inbox, My Tasks, a custom Dashboard, a Space Overview, etc.).

This suggestion also aligns with many of the comments above, particularly the emphasis on providing customizable options for the home page, default views, and the ability to use dashboards to streamline workflows. By integrating these ideas, Wrike could significantly enhance the usability and versatility of the “My Tasks” feature.

:-)

Thoughts On Requested Points📣

• This would be a great idea for the desktop application!

• At first this would not change current use, using web-based Wrike access. We have created Chrome links that jump straight to the Dashboard (or any other Wrike location needed). So navigation has been outside of Wrike which allows us to keep the sidebar minimized.

• Would use more with Customizable Home Page Dashboard allowed a widget to provide Pends (dynamic to user's created pends) and (pre-selected pends provided to user). This will help direct the new users to other areas outside of the Home Page Dashboard without having to remember where to navigate.

Thank you for this development Idea!

I love this idea, I would love to be able to mix "inbox", "dashboard" and "timelogs" in one big homepage.
Currently in the company the first 2 views of Wrike we use are "Inbox", followed by a personal "Dashboard" for daily and weekly planning.

Great idea

I think this is a great idea, allowing users to select which dashboard is the homepage means it can be tailored and we're not forcing people to view a dashboard they are going to automatically move away from.

This would allow our users to see the information they need to and avoid them getting lost in the system looking for tasks.

A configurable personal dashboard as home page would be a great idea! Pre-Lightspeed, there used to be a Personal Dashboard. I've planned to implement something like that for our users ever since, but never got around to it. I've kept this YouTube video featuring the old Personal Dashboard as a reminder. Along with the personal dashboard as a home page, another related old feature needs a comeback: the Home icon, by which the user finds back to their home page.

I love the idea of a dashboard as homepage.  I created a dashboard for our team with current tasks and reviews, and had them all pin it in their Nav menu, but daily I get asked how to access the dashboard.  If they could set it as the first thing they see when opening Wrike, that would be a big help.  As a sys admin I would like to see the option to set the home page for user groups.

Just a helpful tip in the meantime for folks too. The Wrike link I bookmarked on my browser takes me to my to-do list instead of the homepage. That way when I open Wrike, my to-do list is the first thing I see. It may be helpful to suggest to your teams to do the same or bookmark a dashboard instead. That way it is always the first tool that opens and it's always easy to hit the home button from there. (I'm a browser user though, not an app user)

Thank you folks, our team is very happy to see so many comments and suggestions 🙏

Lisa Community Team at Wrike Wrike Product Manager Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover

Lisa Wrike Team member Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover

This would be fantastic. I was demoing Wrike with one of our managers today, and this was actually something he asked about. 

Like Kelsey, I've been utilizing Browser bookmarks. This would be preferrable.

As Tuomo Suominen pointed out, this idea is like a flashback to pre lightspeed times. I personally never missed that home screen, but I understand that some did. I wonder why it was removed? I still miss other items that where accessible very easy before lightspeed, and now are hidden behind the three dots menu. If you want to make wrike more user friendly, why can't we cofigure per user / per space / per account which icons are visible by default?

This idea sounds ideal for most users. We are creating productivity boards for individuals, teams, and management and training users to use the pin feature on the ones they want to see easily. If they could set one as their default view that would make it easier for them to utilize and they can use their pins for other things. This would help with onboarding new users as well. 

Huge thanks for sharing your thoughts here, everyone 🙌

Lisa Community Team at Wrike Wrike Product Manager Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover

Lisa Wrike Team member Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover

Hi again, folks! 
Our team have read all your comments carefully and made plenty of notes 📝 
We’d love to hear even more, especially about homepage management from an admin perspective. This is why we’d like to ask you to fill out a short 5-minute survey to help us better understand your needs in this area.
At the end of the survey, you’ll also have the option to sign up for a 45-minute call with the team if you’d like to discuss your feedback in more detail.
Here’s the link to the survey: https://greatquestion.co/wrike/icaxsu33. Your input is incredibly valuable, and we truly appreciate you taking the time to help us out! 💡
Thanks again, and we’re excited to hear more from you! 🤗

Lisa Community Team at Wrike Wrike Product Manager Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover

Lisa Wrike Team member Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover

That would be great! Making Wrike workable for new users is usually a difficult task. Having something to start with makes a lot of sense.