Templates / Feature request
A feature request template that asks the right question
Most feature requests arrive as a solution: "add an export button". The useful part is the problem behind it, because that's what you can weigh against everything else and solve the best way. This template asks for the problem first.
The template
## What are you trying to do?
<!-- The job, not the feature: "send my accountant last quarter's invoices". -->
## How do you do it today?
<!-- The workaround, if there is one. -->
## How much does it matter?
<!-- Nice to have / Important / Blocking me -->
## Anything else
<!-- Screenshots, an app that does it well, who else needs it. -->An example
## What are you trying to do?
Send my accountant every invoice from last quarter in one go.
## How do you do it today?
I open each invoice and download it as a PDF, about 40 of them.
## How much does it matter?
Important. I do it every quarter and it takes most of an afternoon.
## Anything else
A zip of PDFs, or a CSV, would both work for her."Add bulk export" would have been the solution-first version. This one tells you how often, how painful, and that a CSV would do, which may be a day's work instead of a week's.
Counting requests, not just reading them
One request is an anecdote; forty for the same thing is a roadmap item. Brainbox's widget takes feature requests beside bug reports: users say what they're trying to do, typed or as a voice note, and how much it matters, with a screenshot if they like. In the dashboard you group requests into features, so you see which ones the most people are asking for, and who.
The same fields as a GitHub issue form are on the GitHub templates page.
Try it before you install it
The button in the corner of this page is the real widget. Report something on this page and it lands in our inbox, the way your users’ reports will land in yours.
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