Ask HN: How do you manage new feature requests for your application?

[akshaye]

Basically, what i'm planning to do is to include a minimal number of features in my application, partially because of the 'do less' thing and actually, because i'm not very sure of what path the app should take in future; so i want the users to define what should be added next.

So i was wondering what would be a good way to collect users' reactions and requests? Should i just have a feedback form (problem with that is that users wont know what other features are being asked for)? Or, should i use something like uservoice.com (though it seems, it might lead users to bias towards certain features)?

What do you think?

[cperciva]

So i was wondering what would be a good way to collect users' reactions and requests?

Check your email.

No, I don't mean right now. Well, sure, actually. Check your email right now. And every 5 minutes while you're awake for the rest of the year.

When you get an email from a user, reply to it. Get into a conversation with your users. Find out who they are. Tell them what features you're thinking about adding next, and ask for their opinions.

The biggest problem you'll ever have with collecting feature requests is the people who have great ideas but are too polite to bother you with them. If you can get those people to see you as a friendly human rather than as a faceless business, they'll be far more likely to send you their ideas.

[rdrimmie]

I think it depends a bit on how relevant community is to your application. If there's a community of users that is built up naturally by using your app (like there is at say Stack Overflow, which uses UserVoice) then you'll want to provide a place for the community to talk about features.

If your various users are generally unaware of each other, then I think that having a place for them to send you suggestions is fine.

My general thought is that building a system to handle suggestions before you have any is mildly premature. Provide an obvious way for users to send suggestions - a form or a prominent email address is usually fine - but wait until the flood of suggestions becomes a problem before solving it.

[jfornear]

Be careful leaving the future of your app open to user feedback, especially when it comes to feature requests.

A good talk on this topic (by 37signals' Jason Fried): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H8RB24ZfRo