Worklist type summary at the project level

We would like a view similar to the 'Worklist' view seen on users dashboards at the project level.  When viewing a project, the closest thing that we have found which would give a holistic view is the 'Status' view.  This doesn't get us all the way there, more of a compressed grid would be an ideal view.  

Reasons why the team doesn't think the status page works for this need:

-Big 'Header' on top with a lot of empty space (a pitfall of the entire system I would say)

-Tasks and todos/issues separated.  You can easily lose context only looking at to-do's or issues

-Icons for todos and issues looks very similar

-No possibilities to filter them by status or apply some colors