Flat out I’m a thinker, a brainstormer, and a manifestor. Coming up with new innovative ideas and outside the box thinking how we can constantly evolve and make our service better than the rest. Often times I get lost in my own train of thoughts and my brain is working faster than parts of my body can function. This can seriously impede productivity on what’s most important in an organization if a leader is like this, and I’m guilty of it.

“Don’t Confuse Activity with Accomplishment..” John Wooden

This is a fine line to walk, and unfortunately activity is not the same as accomplishment. As a business owner in the startup life I tend to forget this from time to time and I have to refocus. Business can be one of those things that can seriously inhibit growth if not planned properly.

Activity can be addictive and just like levels of addiction, it can take more to get that same “buzz” feeling, so what do we do? Up the Dosage of activity feeding that addiction of accomplishment. What used to seem exciting now needs to be replaced with something more exciting, exhilarating and challenging. Problem with this is if we’re constantly busy, we may be too busy to even think. Or as it is in my case, I over analyze and think too deeply. Like a well thought out or played chess game, every move is calculated to the end and it’s potential outcomes. The harder we focus on thinking / doing the wrong things, the greater the danger it can become.

What’s The Definition of Insanity?

Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Expecting a Different Result.. As mentioned before, the wrong type of activity can be the thief in the night. Stealing precious time from pressing issues that matter most. The more diligent you are at the wrong activities, the further you are from your stated goals and objectives.

This can create the false sense of accomplishment; going down your list of completed To-Do’s and counting the things to did trying to rationalize were the time went. Success is not a full calendar of things to do, or things you’ve done. Our goal should be the productive use of our time to enable others to grow and accomplish predetermined outcomes and set tasks. Non-strategic activity pulls rather than pushes towards our goals.

It’s Easier to Push than Pull

Failing to plan is planning to fail in my book. It’s always best to have some sort of direction with your organization. Having a well thought out strategy and processes (Like giving estimates insteads of quotes) can save future time and headaches. Creating SOP’s (Standard Operating Procedures) for each part of your organization will make expanding (or replacing) easier when the time comes. It’s easier to go with the current than against it, and having a plan in place will help sail your ship in the right direction.

But things don’t always go as planned right? Sometimes things don’t always go as we expected or planned. That’s why learning to roll with the punches as they say is key in any technology industry and if you’re not 2 steps ahead of the game, you’re a dinosaur and soon to be extinct.

The bottom line are results, what’s is working for you and what is not. Are you getting the results that you wanted / expected out of your day? If not, find out what is holding you up and make a change.

Have you ever confused activity with accomplishment? If you’ve ever found yourself in the rat-race and stuck finding victory in your day, what did you do you change it?

The post Part 4: Putting the Cart Before the Horse appeared first on Widgetware.

Got an idea for  a feature you would love to use on CMS5? Hit us up on twitter @WidgetWare or drop us a line in the comments below.

The post New Feature: Right Click Menus appeared first on Widgetware.

Client flow allows you to visually see how all of your clients, sub-clients, and websites are connected so you can better understand your billing. With CMS5 Client flow, you can better see relationships in just a quick glance. It’s also a great way to interpret your account’s health.

Simply login and go to Manage -> Account -> Client Flow to see for yourself.

Want to see a new CMS5 feature implemented?  Hit us up on twitter @WidgetWare, or drop us a line in the comments below.

The post New Feature: Client Flow appeared first on Widgetware.

Hand in hand with that philosophy is our desire to improve how we communicate and to have real, meaningful dialogue, with everyone.  This is so we can stay connected to the community while also holding ourselves accountable for the changes we make.

On that note, communication is what this Development (Features) blog is about – if Widgetware is going to continue to evolve, then why shouldn’t the way we talk about the system also evolve? Specifically, how can we continue to have real, meaningful conversations?

This got us thinking that we should really sit down to establish a foundation for our talks – our values. At the center of every discussion, shared values, or knowing where we differ, are necessary for the conversation to have meaning. Also, and more importantly, we can have conversations about where we’re successful and where we need more work. With these values out in the open, our hope is that if you don’t agree with a change, you at least understand where we’re coming from.

With our values right here in the open, we can have open conversations about how we approach design at Widgetware. Better still, we can be held accountable when we make changes that aren’t in line.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments, but stay tuned for in-depth articles from senior Widgetware UX designers on each core value. We’ll be updating this post as they go live!

The post The Design Values of Widgetware CMS5 appeared first on Widgetware.

As we get further into beta we will continue to release better and better tools as we get feedback from our customers.  We already have a lot in the works and we can’t wait for you to try it out!

The post Widgetware releases BETA! appeared first on Widgetware.