QA widget
A small panel pinned to the corner of the screen. KPIs and progress, with the report one click away.
Test results, progress, how far the current run has got. Pinned to the top-right of the desktop, refreshing itself every five minutes.
Why not a web dashboard
A dashboard is somewhere you have to go, and nobody goes. Two weeks after you build it the tab is closed, the numbers are stale, and nobody knows.
Something already on screen gets read without anyone deciding to read it. That is the entire design rationale, and it is why this is a PowerShell WinForms panel instead of a proper web app — the ugly technology choice was the one that stays in front of a person.
Written up in three parts
| The problem | |
|---|---|
| The screen | Why a thing that shows numbers must not only show numbers |
| Architecture | Why the widget must not fetch anything |
| Delivery | Putting a tool on somebody else’s machine is harder than the code |
The cost
It is Windows-only and looks like it was built in 2009. Both true. And it has been on screen every working day since I made it, which no dashboard I have ever built managed.