In this guide
The recommended layout
Product managers need a mix of quantitative data (metrics, sprint progress) and qualitative signals (feedback, competitor moves). A two-column layout works well: the left column is numbers and status, the right column is feeds and context.
| Left — metrics & status | Right — signals & context |
|---|---|
| Product analytics (custom widget) | User feedback RSS feed |
| Todoist — sprint priorities | Competitor blog RSS feed |
| Google Calendar — today's meetings | Hacker News (industry pulse) |
| Scratch Pad — quick notes | Markets (company stock / industry) |
Create a dashboard called "PM" and add each widget. For PMs who also track engineering progress, create a second dashboard called "Sprint" with GitHub widgets and uptime monitors — switch between them with Ctrl+Alt+].
Product analytics — daily active users and conversions
If your analytics platform exposes an API (most do — Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude, PostHog), you can surface key metrics directly on your new tab using a custom plugin widget.
Example for a PostHog-style API:
https://app.posthog.com/api/projects/YOUR_PROJECT_ID/insights/trend/?events=[{"id":"$pageview"}]&date_from=-7d
Map the fields you care about most:
| Metric | Why it matters | Threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Daily Active Users (DAU) | Core engagement signal | Amber if < 80% of 7-day avg |
| Sign-up conversion rate | Funnel health | Red if < 2% |
| Feature adoption rate | Are users finding the new feature? | Amber if < 10% |
| Churn rate (weekly) | Retention health | Red if > 5% |
Enable sparklines to see trends. A slowly declining DAU trend line is immediately visible as a downward sparkline — much more actionable than a single number that looks "fine" in isolation.
User feedback and feature request feeds
Most feedback tools (Canny, Productboard, Intercom, Zendesk) offer RSS feeds or webhooks. Set up an RSS widget to show the latest feature requests or support tickets:
- Canny: Use your board's RSS feed URL
- GitHub Issues:
https://github.com/your-org/your-repo/issues.atom - Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/yourproduct/new.rssfor community feedback - Twitter/X mentions: Use a service like Nitter RSS or a custom webhook
The feed shows the latest 5–10 items with titles and timestamps. You're not expected to act on every item — but passively seeing the themes (the same feature requested three times this week) gives you pattern recognition that you'd miss buried in a tool you check once a day.
Sprint progress and task priorities
The Todoist widget shows your tasks due today, read directly from your open Todoist tab. For product managers, structure your daily Todoist list around PM-specific categories:
| Task type | Example |
|---|---|
| 🔴 Blocker | Unblock payment API integration — eng waiting on spec |
| 🟡 Decision | Decide: add onboarding tooltip or guided tour? |
| 🔵 Communication | Send weekly product update to stakeholders |
| 🟢 Research | Review competitor X's new pricing page |
Keep the list short — 3 to 5 items for the day. The widget shows them every time you open a tab, creating gentle accountability without the noise of a full project management tool.
Today's meetings from Google Calendar
The Google Calendar widget shows today's events, read directly from your open calendar.google.com tab. For PMs, this is essential — your day is often structured around meetings: standup, user interviews, stakeholder reviews, sprint planning.
The widget shows event titles, times, and a color-coded timeline. At a glance, you can see how much uninterrupted time you have before your next meeting — critical for deciding whether to start a spec document or just triage emails.
Competitor monitoring via RSS
Set up an RSS widget to passively track competitor activity. Most company blogs have RSS feeds:
https://competitor1.com/blog/feedhttps://competitor2.com/blog/rss.xmlhttps://techcrunch.com/tag/your-industry/feed/
You're not monitoring competitors obsessively — you're building ambient awareness. When a competitor launches a feature you're considering, you see it passively rather than hearing about it secondhand in a meeting three weeks later.
Quick capture with the Scratch Pad
The Scratch Pad is a persistent notepad that sits directly on your dashboard. For product managers, it's perfect for:
- Jotting down user quotes during calls ("I wish I could just drag and drop the files")
- Capturing quick feature ideas before they evaporate
- Writing the three priorities for the day before diving into email
- Noting talking points for the next standup
The Scratch Pad persists across sessions. It's faster than opening Notion or a Google Doc for quick-capture moments — and it's visible every time you open a tab, so you actually review what you wrote.
PM shortcuts in the command palette
Set up URL aliases in Settings → Shortcuts to create one-keystroke access to your most-used PM tools:
| Alias | URL | Use case |
|---|---|---|
jira | https://your-org.atlassian.net/jira/software/projects/PROD/board | Sprint board |
figma | https://www.figma.com/files/team/YOUR_TEAM | Design files |
amplitude | https://analytics.amplitude.com/your-org | Analytics |
canny | https://your-app.canny.io/admin | Feature requests |
roadmap | https://your-roadmap-tool.com | Product roadmap |
docs | https://docs.google.com | Google Docs |
Type the alias in the command palette (⌘⇧K) and you're there instantly. During a meeting, being able to pull up the sprint board or analytics dashboard in under a second makes a real difference.
The product manager dashboard turns your new tab into a decision-support tool. Metrics show you what's happening, feedback shows you what users want, and the calendar shows you where your time goes. When all three are visible at a glance, you make better prioritization decisions — and you make them faster.
→ Build a custom widget for your own API metrics