Case study · HubSpot
Add to Dashboard: the “papercut” that was a 14-step workflow
Nobody had flagged it, but the data said adding a report to a dashboard was harder than it should be. I traced it to a 14-step flow, prototyped fixes, and shipped a side panel that made it one click or a drag-and-drop.
Drag and drop on HubSpot dashboards. Image: HubSpot Knowledge Base.
COMPANY
HubSpot
MY ROLE
Product Manager
BEFORE
14 steps
AFTER
One click or drag-and-drop
THE CONTEXT
Where this started
Why did we do this?
Dashboards are the home page for a large share of HubSpot customers. Nobody had called out adding reports as a problem, but completion rates for adding a report to a dashboard were lower than we expected, and the flow dropped people into a slow-loading report builder.
What was I responsible for?
I owned the dashboards experience. My job was to find out why people weren't finishing, then make adding a report fast enough that they would.
01 · HOW IT CAME TOGETHER
From a quiet metric to a full launch
Phase 1
Validate
IS THIS REAL?
→ Completion rates for adding a report to a dashboard were lower than we expected, even though nobody had called it out.
→ I documented the whole flow: 14 steps from start to finish, including a detour through a slow-loading builder.
→ I prototyped a few solution flows and recommended the side panel to design.
Where AI helped: rough prototypes in Lovable to compare solution flows before we committed.
Phase 2
Private beta
2 WEEKS · CALLS
→ Design and I ran research calls together with customers adding 5+ reports a week, the people this would affect most.
→ What changed: we added ordering to the report list and a toggle between list and preview views.
Phase 3
Opt-in beta to launch
DID THE NUMBERS MOVE?
→ We opened the beta to anyone who opted in and shifted from calls to data.
→ Main metrics: CSAT, completion rate for adding a report, and panel activation.
→ Curiosity metrics: switching view types and using search inside the panel.
→ Then it launched to every HubSpot user.
02 · THE KEY DECISION
Solve it directly, and open a new surface.
IT WASN'T
“Speed up the existing builder flow.”
IT WAS
“A side panel right on the dashboard, with room for future bets.”
The panel solved the problem most directly, and it gave us a new surface to test future ideas, like smart suggestions for which reports to add.
03 · THE TRADE-OFF
What made V1, and what waited
✓ In v1
Add a report to a dashboard in a single click, or drag and drop it into place.
→ What came next
We'd made it easier to add a report, but not easier to find the right one. So after launch, we brought the AI report recommendations from AI Reporting Search into the panel, based on the user, the dashboard, the reports they'd used most or most recently, what they had access to, and the HubSpot apps they used most.
My role: I led it end to end, from the data that surfaced the problem through research, beta and launch, running research calls alongside our designer.
04 · THE OUTCOME
What happened next
~170 hrs
a week of customer time returned (estimated)
~50%
less time to add a report
14 → 1
steps down to one click or a drag-and-drop
BEFORE
“Before, adding reports meant leaving the dashboard editor and breaking your flow.”
James Byrne
Co-Founder, RevOdyssey · LinkedIn, Oct 2025 →
AFTER
“Massive time saver so thanks Stefanie Brown and team!”
Paul Ard
Revenue Operations · LinkedIn, Oct 2025 →
05 · WHAT TO TAKE FROM IT
Lessons for new PMs
1
Look at the data, not just the complaints
Nobody had flagged this flow. A lower-than-expected completion rate did.
2
Count the steps
Writing down all 14 steps turned “it takes a while” into a problem everyone could see.
3
Prototype to decide
A rough prototype of a few flows turned the design conversation into a choice between options, not opinions.
Sources: My work at HubSpot. Image: HubSpot Knowledge Base.
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