Feature request survey
A feature request is someone's guess at a fix. This template asks for the job behind it: what they were trying to do, how they work around it today, and how often the gap hurts. You rank problems, not pet ideas.
Best for: Product teams sorting and ranking incoming feature requests.
Use this template freeWhat are you trying to accomplish that the product doesn't help with yet?
A live preview of this template. Click through it. Nothing gets sent.
The questions
- 1What are you trying to accomplish that the product doesn't help with yet?Long textAsks for the job, not the feature. The request is only their proposed fix.
- 2What feature or change do you think would solve it?Long textRecord their idea too, but treat it as one option, not the spec.
- 3How are you working around this today?Long textThe workaround shows you the real cost and the real competitor.
- 4How often does this come up for you?Single selectDaily / Weekly / Monthly / Rarely. Separates urgent gaps from nice-to-haves.
- 5What happens if it stays as it is?Long textShows the real consequence: leaving, lost time, or mild annoyance.
- 6How important is this to you?Opinion scale1-5. Combine it with frequency to rank. Never use it alone.
- 7What's your role and company size?Short textLets you weigh requests by the group you're building for.
Sample replies, counted
These replies are made up to show the method.
Asked: What are you trying to accomplish that the product doesn't help with yet?
Send a client a read-only link so they can see progress without logging in.
Share with clientsEvery Monday I rebuild the same weekly report by hand.
Repeat reportsGet two years of old projects in from Asana. Copy-paste isn't happening.
Import old dataclients keep asking for a PDF and I screenshot everything
Share with clientsSchedule the monthly summary to go to my boss automatically.
Repeat reportsShow my client what's done this week without giving them a seat.
Share with clientsBring in our old CSV of contacts with the custom fields intact.
Import old dataTrack time against each task.
Other
| Label | Replies |
|---|---|
| Share with clients | 3 |
| Repeat reports | 2 |
| Import old data | 2 |
| Other | 1 |
Three of eight people want to show work to clients, and they asked for three different features to do it: a link, a PDF and a guest view. Solve the job once with a shareable read-only page before building any of the three.
How to run it well
- Rank by how often it comes up and what it costs, not by vote count. A painful weekly problem for ten of the right people beats a mild wish from a hundred.
- Read the workaround answers closely. A slow, heavy workaround is the clearest sign people will use a real fix.
- Group requests by the job before you scope anything. Five different asks often turn out to be one problem.
- Tell people when you ship or decline their request. It keeps honest requests coming.
When not to use this: If you already have a list of ideas and need people to rank them, this is the wrong form. Use the feature prioritization survey, which makes people trade one idea off against another.
FAQ
Why not rank feature requests by votes?
How do I stop building the literal feature someone asked for?
Should every request feed the roadmap?
Where the method comes from
- Jobs to Be Done Theory, Christensen Institutechristenseninstitute.org
- First Rule of Usability? Don't Listen to Users, Jakob Nielsen, Nielsen Norman Group (2001)nngroup.com
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