So, I definitely think "pending" should be pulled out of the "admin" menu. I've been playing around with it and that would be my #1 suggestion.
Then, if it can just stay expanded and remember that until you close it yourself, as long as you are in groups.io, even if you bounce between groups, subgroups etc, that would resolve the issue of having to make 2 clicks instead of 1.
But I really like that all the admin stuff is now clearly defined.