Unforced Error – Smartsheet UX change

Usually, I try to avoid sports analogies 1, but this particular one is in my lexicon and has evolved beyond sports. For me it translates to: “Oh no. You really didn’t need to do that. But you did it anyway. Oops.” On Dec 14, 2018, Smartsheet released the second of its large user experience (UX) changesRead more

Passing the Torch

Sports Sometimes, change is bitter sweet. I am not a sports fan. I might need to take my shoes off to count all of the current American Football, Baseball, Hockey, or Basketball stars’ names I know, let alone their teammates. Some of those might not play anymore. Usually I can’t tell you who won lastRead more

The Journal

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I use a lot of different software. Lots. I know I am not alone. This isn’t braggadocious1, I’m just setting up background. I’m not writing about the ones that are “just there” — anti-virus, online storage sync programs, and the rest that just sit in the system tray and are actively ignored. I mean theRead more

Defaulting to A Date in a Smartsheet WebForm

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Smartsheet‘s Forms allow a date to be selected when building the Form. Unfortunately, that [Today] button only selects today’s date, not setting the default to whatever date the form is used. This has never really been a major problem for me. Once the form is submitted, I captured the row’s creation date, in effect capturing “today”. BasedRead more

Smartsheet: Secure Your Sheets with X-Sheet References

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A Common Request One of the common requests I see on the Smartsheet Community and hear from my customers is how can we make the data more secure? “I want to share only certain data to my _____” (vendor/customer/peer/team member) Repeat after me: Smartsheet is not a relational database. But it is getting closer toRead more

Smartsheet: Set up Update Requests to increase workflow velocity

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A Semi-Random Walk from Problem to Solution Warning: The Owner of the Sheet for this solution requires a Business or Enterprise Smartsheet license. This solution started in an odd place. Looking back on it, it doesn’t  seem so odd but at the time, I didn’t know where I would end up. I had a largeRead more

Smartsheet: Update Multiple Sheets

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Updating a Sheet with new functionality takes time. This is true, despite what your supervisor may think. Updating 10 Sheets with the same functionality? More time. This post won’t show how to eliminate all of the time, but it should save some. A Simple Example I have a Project Master Sheet (I avoid using Smartsheet’sRead more

Smartsheet: I hate color (so hide them)

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re: “I hate color”. No, not me. And I don’t mean complicated Conditional Formatting Rules like this: although I have thoughts on that too. But I did hear something very close to that sentiment when talking to a customer recently. And like most comments from customers, it got me thinking. (Note to self: That’s why theyRead more

Smartsheet: Transposing Project Schedule

Occasionally, I run across a requirement to show the tasks or dates from a project schedule in a more horizontal view. That is, take something like this: and display (and use) it like this: What is shown is a simple example, only four columns to move over or link to the second Sheet, but I’veRead more

I’ve been invited to speak at ENGAGE 2017

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It is with pride and a sense of gratitude that I announce, that I have been invited to speak at ENGAGE, Smartsheet’s first user conference September 2017. I hope to see you there, to meet people I only know by e-mail and the Community, or customers I only know from tele-conferences. Here’s the link to theRead more