August Question of the Month - Join the conversation and receive a badge

Humashankar

A treasure repository of surprises awaits, with hidden gems revealed at every turn, growing more precious with each new discovery is all about Smartsheet!!

BrookeGL33

This is a great topic and a love everyone's answers so far. I think I would example Smartsheet to a 4 year old like this:

"Imagine your cubby storage in your preschool room. Smartsheet has cubbies for numbers, where it keeps all of them organized."

NickStaffordPM

I would say its a great online tool that anyone can use to organize numbers and words so that a group of people can work together to accomplish something fun!

Kimberly Slavsky

It's what I use for when I am planning to take over the world.

My daughter agrees, although she is older than 4.

Gillian C

Smartsheet is a bit like minecraft for work. It is made up of lots of different building blocks when combined in different ways make lots of different outcomes.

Deena Duran

Smartsheet is like a box of Legos. You can build things, look at your creation from different angles, have your friends help, use instructions if you want or start on your own. You can learn to be a Master Builder if you want. The more that you play with Legos, the more creative you get!

Marlana K.

Smartsheet is like going to Disney World, full of magic, wonder, excitement and sometimes even sensory overload! You can discover something new every time you open Smartsheet.

Zachary Ziegler

I think a child, depending on if they've started attending elementary school yet, might understand SmartSheet to be kind of like their Agenda Book. It takes a bunch of different topics and organizes their day, lets you share with your friends and teachers, and move things around easily so everyone can stay up to date. While an Agenda Book may not be able to update as easily as SmartSheet can, I'm sure they'd understand why that's useful.

Mark.poole

Smartsheet is like a big sandbox. It holds all these little grains of sand, "Multitude of information", You pack into different molds. "Formulas". When its all put together you get a pretty castle. "Solutions"

ss_innovation

Smartsheet is like a markerboard where you and your friends can plan a fun birthday party together. Imagine you have a big board, and everyone has a marker where they can draw and write what they’ll do for the party. Maybe one friend says they’ll bring balloons, another will bring cake, and someone else will plan the games. This board helps everyone remember what they’re doing so the party is super fun and everyone has a great time.

Julie Becker

HA, this is awesome since i feel im always dealing with "children" in our office now, so this is a daily thing that i get to endure.

Basically what i have to do, is 1st assume they are just not computer savy or have NO clue what tracking data in a centralized location is, then assemble visual talking items (i use videos, powerpoint, legos/linkin logs (yes i still have those lol), construction toys / models, pictures, etc..). I sit them down, give them candy (this ALWAYS gets their attention and wakes them up at ANY age lol), then proceed to tell them that when i am all done teaching / explaining how this all works, that there will be valuable prizes for those who get the 3 questions i ask at the end correct. So now that i have their fully undivided attention, i start with fun images (depending on the dept. i am training, is the theme of the images, Construction = use funny bulldozers or other earth moving equipment with my explantions, epic fails, things that make them laugh while still being able to explain its operation).

Basically you have to always assume the person you are speaking to, has NO CLUE about software in general and is not computer savy, this way, you dont loose them as an audience or individual. The min you explain something above their capacity to retain and see their eyes start to wonder off or glaze over, you lost them. Keeping them engaged, entertained and sugar fed, is the key to simply explaining how gathering data from all walks of life, from all around the world (if you do), and how they all tie to eachother in a computer program. This has worked for me since day one for staff who have never worked in an office all the way up to Software Engineers who can run circles around me with codes, but none of that matters if we cant explain / teach it at the level for them to understand.

Amanda W _ MSE

Great question and really makes you think. I've always tried explaining this to colleagues as simply as I can without jargon so I would definitely stick with that but make it relatable.

I would definitely relate it to their toys and activities by saying it makes a nice list such as what are we going to do today for example…. Go to the beach/park…. wonderful… what do we need to take with us? How will we get there? What shall we do once there etc.

Basically mapping out their project plan with milestones and actions. I would then say once we have done our lovely list we can now create a colourful and fun picture in the form of graphs and pie charts. We can also invite your friends to join in and have chats with them online too.

Leroy Noriega

Smartsheet is like a toy, all the individual pieces have their own use but when its all put together you get the complete toy. The best part is that there are multiple toys being built and you can see where all of them are.

Gozam

It's a table with cubbies and you get to change the color of the cube, move it around, stack it, sort it, remove it from the table, put a name on it from the top and side, add smaller cubes to the bigger ones if you need to

Jacob A

It's sharing you candy with 20 people at the same time and the candy does not finish.