Letter from the CCO (August 2020): Workfront’s Biggest Product Release in Our History

Can you believe we are in August? August is always a big month in my house because the kids get back to school. Like many of you, we don’t know what to expect this school year, but I do know we’ll all get through it—what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?

In addition to back to school time, this August is a HUGE month for Workfront because we are delivering our 20.3 product release. What does that mean? It means that in addition to a number of enhancements on the core product, we are introducing TWO brand new products to help drive collaboration, gain more visibility, and fundamentally get work done.

Enhancements to Workfront’s core product

Let’s start with some of the updates we’ve made to Workfront’s core platform: 

• Enterprise controls. A structured approach to group hierarchy allows you to create, manage, and organize all your departments in one instance of Workfront, while remaining flexible enough for those teams to customize and manage the unique way they work, from branding to project preferences. 

• Enhanced analytics. Get information quickly with clear, easy-to-understand views right inside Workfront. No need to jump to another tool or system to get the information you need. 

• Customer-driven feature enhancements. A number of additional enhancements in this release came directly from customers like you! For example: our mobile virtual assistant, Zoom integration, saving requests as drafts, converting documents into advanced Proofs, and more. 

• Innovation Lab. Speaking of customer feedback, a few years ago we implemented a formal Idea Exchange where customers could submit, vote on, and discuss ideas with fellow customers. This was very exciting, but over the years we’ve realized that we could do better. Some have described the Idea Exchange as a black hole, and to be completely candid, they weren’t wrong. While we had the best of intentions in the way we modeled it, we fell down on execution. We are determined to redeem ourselves and earn back your trust. As part of the Workfront 20.3 release we are thrilled to be introducing an entirely new approach to how we collect product feedback. I’m excited to share that the Innovation Lab will officially replace the legacy Idea Exchange! The Innovation Lab is an interactive platform, right here on Workfront One, where you will still be able to submit and up-vote ideas. The biggest difference is that Workfront will now curate ideas and present a list back to you for feedback and prioritization. The Innovation Lab is about creating the most value, together. We are excited to launch this and start getting more of your ideas. To find out more about the Innovation Lab, you can watch the Leap presentation here or read about it here. 

Introducing Workfront Align and Workfront Scenario Planner

In addition to these enhancements, I couldn’t be more excited to share that this month we are releasing two brand new products—Workfront Align and Workfront Scenario Planner. Today’s workforce wants more than just a paycheck, they want a purpose. They want to see that they are contributing to something meaningful. The best way to show meaning is to tie the work they are doing directly to the objectives of the company. With Align and Scenario planner you will be able to do just that in an easy-to-use and visual way. 

With Align, you can document your organization’s highest level goals (or the goals of your business unit, department, or team) in a single place. Going one step further with Scenario Planner, you can model out different ways for how you will achieve those goals. Putting the two together allows you to connect your goals with actual project work. Connecting strategy to work and seeing progress in real-time gives your team and your entire organization a real connection to the purpose and meaning behind their work. 

As I sign off on this addition of Workfront @ Work, I want to make sure you know that we understand the challenges you are facing, and we are here to help make your jobs and days a little easier. We have built a ton of resources right here on Workfront One, from blogs, to documentation, to training, events, and more. Please take advantage of these resources and don’t hesitate to reach out to us with your needs.  

-Sue