I am curious by nature (a.k.a nosey) so my favourite gadget is the 'Two dimensional filter statistics'. I have lots of these on custom dashboard looking at both the current state by assignee, customer, or status and to look at the backlog.
I find it super helpful when cleaning up the backlog. Most backlogs I have encountered seem like and insurmountable mountain however with the 'Two dimensional filter statistics' I can find the columns and rows with low numbers (or intersections) as areas to focus on for some quick wins.
What gadget helps you or do you enjoy using?
Those tweaks would definitely help.
Another way I found "assignee vs status" useful is on team dashboards when training a group into viewing all issues as a group responsibility. It makes it easy for someone who has some time to pass before lunch or home time to help someone else out by sending a few follow up messages for issues 'with customer' etc.