Feature Requests: How to Decide What Actually Gets Built

The request is rarely the requirement

Customers ask for solutions, not problems. “Can you add a bulk export button?” usually means “I am doing something monthly that takes an hour and I want it back”, and there may be three better answers than the button.

Always record the underlying situation alongside the request. Without it, you build the button and the customer still spends the hour.

Record everything, in one place

• Who asked, and what they pay
• What they were trying to do
• What happens today without it
• Whether it blocks adoption or is a preference
• The date, so you can see whether a theme is growing

The most useful column is “what happens today without it”. Requests where the answer is “we use a spreadsheet and it takes two hours a week” are different from requests where the answer is “nothing, it would just be nicer”.

Decide on fit, not on volume

Counting requests optimises for your loudest customers, who are not necessarily your best or most representative. A request from three customers who represent your target segment matters more than ten from a segment you are not pursuing.

1. Does it serve the customers we want more of?
2. Does it remove a blocker to adoption or only add convenience?
3. Does it fit the product we intend to build, or drag us somewhere else?
4. What does it cost to build and to maintain forever?

Say no properly

“It's on the roadmap” when it is not is a small dishonesty that compounds. Customers plan around it and lose trust when it does not arrive.

A clear no with a reason and a suggested workaround is better received than people expect. What damages relationships is indefinite ambiguity, not refusal.

Publish enough of the roadmap to be useful

Themes and rough timing, not dated commitments. “Reporting improvements this quarter” sets expectations without creating a promise you may need to break.

Update it when it changes, publicly. A roadmap page last updated eight months ago is worse than none.

Close the loop when you do build

Tell the people who asked. It is a small thing that produces disproportionate goodwill and encourages the feedback you want to keep receiving.

It also flushes out the cases where you built the button and did not solve the problem, which is worth knowing.

Frequently asked questions