A New Way to Submit Your Feature Requests

Shaine Greenwood · 03/28/17

Hello Community!

We've devised a web form that you can use to submit your ideas for features that you want to see included in future versions of Smartsheet.

You can access the form here.

This is the best method for submitting your feature requests, as this form goes directly to our Product team and effectively cuts out the middleman (me) as you communicate your ideas and your use cases to the people that develop Smartsheet features.

In the community, we'd still love to see any potential workarounds that you might have to supplement features that you're looking for in Smartsheet.

We can't guarantee that our Product team will respond back to every feature request submission, but they may contact you for more information on how you're using Smartsheet.

Mike Wilday · 03/29/17

Can you add this to the quick links on the side?

Shaine Greenwood · 03/29/17

You read my mind

Working on it.

Galen Garrison, PMP, CSM, MBA · 03/30/17

Will there be a published list of ideas already submitted so that there is not unnecessary duplication?

Shaine Greenwood · 03/30/17

Duplications are highly encouraged—the more votes a feature gets coupled with multiple, possibly differing use cases and stories, the better we can make Smartsheet.

We currently don't have plans on publishing a list of submitted votes.

Mike Wilday · 03/30/17

And when feature requests are added by submitting them to support, they always "Add a vote" perhaps they will review these new rows and do the same thing.

Galen Garrison, PMP, CSM, MBA · 03/31/17

If the information is not published, then it becomes hidden for how long customers have been requesting features, such as OneNote integration (since 2015?) and protection at the cell level to prevent row/column deletion by those with editor rights.

Shaine Greenwood · 03/31/17

Hi Galen,

I understand your concern for accountability on feature requests. We're opting to use this form and to not publish a list of what features are requested for a few reasons:

-Demand is the highest factor that we use to determine which features we develop, but it's not the only factor. We also have to look at feasibility with our current architecture, the time it'll take, and how many developer resources it'll take. Our goal is to communicate a reasonable expectation for what features are going into Smartsheet. Each feature is different and we can't develop every feature that everyone asks for—we have to be strategic about what is going to impact the most Smartsheet users in a positive way for them to work better.

-We don't want to miscommunicate the idea that if a feature request appears on a publicially facing list, that we're going to develop it. Again, we do have to weight the demand of a feature with the feasibility, resources, and time it takes to develop that feature. A feature that might seem as easy a few lines of code typically isn't. Even subtle changes we make to the application that might help some users, might actually hurt others. We strive to make features that work well right out of the gate, that means putting a lot of thought into any potential impact on all of our customers.

-The form allows you to communicate your story directly to the people responsible for developing features in Smartsheet. In the community, we can't always get a clear picture of how a feature will make your day better. For instance, people will "like" a discussion or comment. This doesn't log another vote for a feature request. There are also times when people reply to a thread with "+1," which I do log as another vote, but it doesn't give our team a clear picture of how that +1 person would really like to see this feature work. This form allows our Product team to get a better picture of the feature people are looking for, how they expect it to be used, and allows our Product team to follow up with more questions and information if needed.

Galen Garrison, PMP, CSM, MBA · 03/31/17

Shaine,

I appreciate the time and thoroughness with which you responded. I understand your explanation, and it makes sense. Thank you.

Good work.

Cheers,
gg

J. Craig Williams · 04/01/17

I also appreciate Shaine's response.

As a someone that has been involved in software development, I believe I understand some of the issues related to feedback and requests from customers.

I don't have time to fully develop my thoughts here. Perhaps a post in the future on my website.

Here's what I intend to do:

1. I will use the WebForm to submit my enhancement requests.

2. I will also repost such requests on the Community with a note saying I have submitted it via the WebForm.

I already do this for most Bug Reports.

My experience has been that most bug reports and enhancement requests written by non-experienced people are poor. A well written request is not easy. When I work with trainers and testing operators with many years experience in their industry, there is still training required to teach them how to tell the developers what is wrong or what they would like to see.

Shaine's point about the "like" and the "+1" is where I think the main problem with customer feedback lies. This is not a Smartsheet problem and I don't intend to imply that it is.

When a post is "liked" or "+1", there is no relative decision making being performed (typically) on the current item under consideration and others.

What I hope to gain by posting the request here would be to have other users (non-Smartsheet employees) look at the request and add support or even counter arguments. I, as a user, have tunnel vision based on how I use the tool. Luckily, I also see through the eyes of my customers. Posting here I hope to get more eyes on my requests. Sometimes, they need a sanity check.

My $0.02

Craig

Brad Jones · 04/03/17

Well said Craig.

That is why I originally started posting my feature requests into the forum. There was already a way for us to submit feature requests through the feedback option in the help section. (Somethings broken, new feature, help request, etc) But those disappeared into the background, and I don't like it when my requests 'disappear'.

By submitting it to the forum, it can become a collaborative subject for the users to develop as they go. If it is in a sequestered list elsewhere, then we have no opportunity to share our thoughts with eachother. And sharing is what this platform is all about - or at least that's how I see it.

Shaine Greenwood · 04/03/17

Thanks Tim—typo corrected. Funny, I just spelled the word "supplement" correctly in a comment today...to err is human and whatnot.

You're right on several factors here: our goal is to communicate features, and their development, concisely and realistically. We're steering Smartsheet towards work management, which includes—but isn't limited to—project management functionality.

We'd like the community to remain a resource to share ideas and potential workarounds for features that aren't present in Smartsheet today. But we needed a more defined way of channeling feedback toward our Product team so that people aren't just heard, but are understood when they make requests.

Thus, a Smartsheet web form was born.

Tim Meeks · 04/03/17

Shaine,

First of all, you have a typo in your 3rd paragraph. The word "supplement" is spelled wrong. I only noticed this when I forwarded your post and my email spell check caught.

Secondly, spell check in the community board comment boxes would be awesome!

I'm sure I have one in this post.

Thirdly, I appreciate the info and do understand how user needs and development resources conflict. I currently manage a small software application with a hundred or so users and 2 developers. Many times we conflict with the business owners over how a feature should be implemented and even if it should.

The main suggestion I would have for your product development is to make sure that the feature set you are selling/communicating about on the website is aligned with the feature set functionality of the SS application.

I believe SS has minimized the use of calling SS a Project Management tool and has increased the use of calling it a Collaboration tool. For those of us with PMP backgrounds, we are looking for the PM granularity offered in other tools. But many people don't need this complexity nor have the training in tracking resoruces. They just want to collaborate. And I think SS does this fabulously!

Keep up the good work!

Tim

Gwyneth C · 04/07/17

Hi all!

There's now a link to the Enhancement Request form under "Quick Links" in the right sidebar. Thanks for the feedback!

-Gwyneth

sdkotes12901 · 06/01/17

Shaine:

I see that SS has a handful of add-on applications. Is it a far stretch to assume that if SS has partnered with a third-party to accommodate some of the more complicated functionality, SS will not take similar or exact feature requests into consideration?

I looked up one add-on that would be quite handy (bi-directional cell linking) but the cost is prohibitive. I have yet to look up other such apps SS has partnerships with but assume those are costly as well.

Sandy

sdkotes12901 · 06/01/17

Hi Tim,

I assume you may know about this about Chrome but if not, when you use Chrome as your browser and have enabled spell checking, you have your spell checker. To my dismay, Chrome will not give you spelling options inside a SS post, but it is helpful as an alert.

I do know not everyone uses Chrome or does not want to jump between browsers but hope this helps.

Sandy

A New Way to Submit Your Feature Requests

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