The same board, before and after a redesign
Two versions of the board over identical notes, with the numbers measured by a script.
Built 2026-11-04 · Filmed 2026-11-04
The board I use to see every project of mine was redesigned on 3 and 4 November 2026. I filmed the same 32 project notes under the old version and the new one, so the difference is something you can see instead of take on trust.
- Above the first card292 to 128 pxof header, toolbar and strips before the first card starts, measured on these project notes at 1440 x 900
- Controls on the first screen49 to 26buttons, menus and fields you could click before opening anything
- Same notes, both versions32project notes, copied as they are. 8 of the 40 I had approved were left out so no frame shows work or private details.
Exhibit 1What changed, as the film shows it
Board version 37 on the left of the film, version 40 on the right. The redesign's brief, from the board's own project record, was information first and the frame around the cards receding.
| In the film | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| The top of the page | A headline band, a toolbar, a pinned strip and a column header stacked above the cards. | One slim bar of modes and tools, then a single strip for what is pinned and live. |
| Filtering | A drawer that is open from the start and sits over the first cards. | A Filter button. The rail opens on demand and closes again, and a chip says how many filters are on. |
| Modes | Board, Relevance, Today, Needs-You and Reclaim in a toolbar crowded with sort, weights and lane buttons. | Lanes, List, Needs you, Today and Reclaim in one row, with search and Filter beside them. |
| Ordering | A sort menu and a separate panel of weights. | One Order control, relevance by default. |
| Look | Dark. | Light. |
The same filter gives the same answer in both versions: the agentic-workflow tag shows 9 of 32 projects, and adding the Executing status leaves 8. What differs is how much of the screen it takes to get there.
The filmSame notes, two versions of the board
The film (1:44, narrated in my voice in English or Português, captions on the picture) opens with both versions side by side, then runs the same filter on each in turn. After that it shows four things on the new version only. One is the Needs you list, with 10 items: 4 blockers and 6 stale statuses. The others are the Reclaim view, three cards opened, and the folder behind one card.
Exhibit 2How the comparison was made
The board keeps no state of its own. It reads notes, so two versions of its code can be pointed at identical copies of the same notes. Each version was served from its own checkout of the board's git history, at one screen size, with nothing written back. The two numbers above come from a script that measures where the first card starts and counts the clickable elements, the same way for both versions.
Opening a card's project note, and then its folder, is the last thing the film does. The folder holds the project note, a roadmap file and a status file, which is everything the board reads for that card.
What this does not show. These are my real project notes, unlike the made-up notebook on the earlier board card. Only the personal and estate projects I approved are in the set. The measuring script came from the redesign's own project, so it counts what the redesign set out to reduce. It says nothing about whether the new layout is easier to use, and the film is there for that.
Needs you and Reclaim are filmed on the new version only. The film was recorded on a Linux machine in a headless browser, which has no font for one small icon in the old version, so a similar one stands in for it there. The board's comment box is not shown, and neither version was filmed on a phone.
A redesign is usually judged from memory of the old layout. Here the old layout could be served again beside the new one over the same notes, because the board holds no copy of the data it draws. That turned a matter of taste into something a script could count and a viewer could compare by eye.