Implementing features customers want
People have requested a few features that were missing (wildcard ssl), and we've since implemented them and made sure to keep the dialog going with the original person that requested it. Do you always implement features requested by customers?
Trending on Indie Hackers
It depends. I'm pretty sure it was DHH of RoRs fame that talked about this early on. That not ALL feature requests are good ideas and that you should listen but be very careful about not just implementing everything.
Personally, I listen but think hard about if the feature compliments the long term vision for the product.
For example, I'm working on a game. Right now it is, admittedly, pretty "arcadey." But my long term vision is for the game to be something that is fun and accessible but with a bit more depth.
I've gotten lots of feedback from friends about the controls. Most of the feedback is to make them easier. But, the controls are the way they are because it is a physics based engine and space ships moving through space behave in certain ways.
So, I take the feedback seriously and try to find ways to get the best of both worlds. Like, instead of just implementing exactly what they ask for I'll add it as like a an option. For example, people wanted brakes because the game is pretty hard until you get used to it (think multiplayer asteroids) so I added it but with the understanding that the breaks were an abstraction for an on-board computer figuring out how to stop the ship. Sort of like anti lock brakes on a car. You press the peddle but the computer intervenes.
Anyway, hope that makes sense. Short answer: I always listen but only implement the requests that compliment the vision for the app. And sometimes come up with creative ways to achieve both.
P.S. You also have to be careful because sometimes you make a change for one person and end up making a bunch of other people unhappy. Maybe the UI becomes more convoluted, you have to increase the price, performance is affected, etc... I know for my game, the people that play it the most like me, my brother and a couple of friends have grown to like it because it is challenging. But new players struggle. So it is a tough balancing act sometimes. I don't want to anger the people that actually play it the most but I also want new players to be able to enjoy it too.
I'm generally a little weary of constantly adding in new features, simply because it doesn't take much to end up with a bloated, feature filled mess of a product that nobody wants to learn / use because it's too large and bulky. That's happened multiple times to me. Start with some cool, clean system that people love, then after a year or two of constantly adding in all these requested features, new potentials take a look and think, "ewww, I'm expected to use this? I don't even know where to start".
Best I find is somehow modularize / categorize feature sets, then allow users to unlock the desired feature sets as they see fit for their personal consumption. Generally wait for features to be requested by a decent handful of people before they get added though, as I very much pursue a "simple is good" matra.
I keep a list with features requests from users, the ones that are requested the most will probably be included in the next updates. It's usually only small features or improvements though, usually nothing too extraordinary. I have to research/think myself for the next big features that are actually making an impact on the business (adding small features that users request usually only keeps those users happy, not really bring in new ones).
Whenever a customer contacts me for whatever reason I do specifically ask them what features will be useful for them so I can have a better idea of what should be high prio.
There are various prioritization techniques like:
Customer requests (via support channel) are just one way that leads to ideas. It's the most personal one because you're in direct contact.
Ideas for features should come from multiple places:
Ryan
I does depend. I was just having a conversation like this in the office this week. This is where you take off the tech “hat” and put on the BA. It doesn’t make since to implement every request from end users but it does make since to capture and categorize them appropriately. The idea is to leverage data to make decisions. The more data you have then - the better opportunity you have to do what’s right for the tool / company.