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Development/Feature Request Voting
Hi FreeAgent,
Haven't posted in a while as I have been busy on a customer bid that's going to need multiple currency support - but that's not really the subject of this post...
Having looked at some of the issues raised about the multiple currency, I notice quite a lot of frustrated comments about this and other feature request which basically all fall into the "Managing Expectations Category".
As per the responses by the FreeAgent team on several of these issues I think its fair to say that a lot of people are frustrated with the fact that promises like "Its on the roadmap", "will be looked at very soon" have not come to fruition and other competitors (a lot of people mention Zero) seem to be catching up quickly.
What I would like to suggest is that you formalise the feature request system so that you and your customers both have a clear idea of what is requested, what's on the roadmap and when in can be expected. This way everyone knows what is being worked or likely to be worked on by you guys, ultimately it will help to placate your customers and give you a much clearer idea of where to focus your efforts.
I see this working in the following way:
1. Your guys trawl the questions, ideas, problems that are in this forum and narrow these down to distinct development/feature requests.
a. Multiple Currency
b. Project/Task/User billing rates
c. Non-billable tasks
d. User level expense reporting
e. etc, etc, etc....
2. Each of these development/features are then described in detail (i.e. what the problem is and what your solution will be) and categorised as quick win or major release. These are then posted like a leader board type application either on your website or "Get Satisfaction" (should be simple for your collective skills to create a custom application).
3. You then email all your users and invite them to vote on these development/feature requests so that the whole community is involved and not just those of us who post regularly to the site. This can then form the basis of your roadmap prioritisation which should also be published along with the leader board voting system, everyone has a clear idea of what is coming and how to get something addressed.
Why would this be a good idea? Well firstly it means that your users feel involved in the development process and conversely you know exactly what they want and when. Secondly, it reduces the volume of information you have to trawl through when you do decide to make a development, once you publish the problem and your proposed solution there is no argument as to what people are voting for and how long they can expect to wait for it as this is all included in the development/feature request they vote for.
On a personal note, this is how I run projects which I am involved with, it helps me greatly to determine priorities in a formal way and the users are happier to except problems/issues with the system that have not been fixed as they feel that they are involved in the decision making process.
Anyway, hope this of use an that maybe we see something along these lines.
Cheers
Jason
Haven't posted in a while as I have been busy on a customer bid that's going to need multiple currency support - but that's not really the subject of this post...
Having looked at some of the issues raised about the multiple currency, I notice quite a lot of frustrated comments about this and other feature request which basically all fall into the "Managing Expectations Category".
As per the responses by the FreeAgent team on several of these issues I think its fair to say that a lot of people are frustrated with the fact that promises like "Its on the roadmap", "will be looked at very soon" have not come to fruition and other competitors (a lot of people mention Zero) seem to be catching up quickly.
What I would like to suggest is that you formalise the feature request system so that you and your customers both have a clear idea of what is requested, what's on the roadmap and when in can be expected. This way everyone knows what is being worked or likely to be worked on by you guys, ultimately it will help to placate your customers and give you a much clearer idea of where to focus your efforts.
I see this working in the following way:
1. Your guys trawl the questions, ideas, problems that are in this forum and narrow these down to distinct development/feature requests.
a. Multiple Currency
b. Project/Task/User billing rates
c. Non-billable tasks
d. User level expense reporting
e. etc, etc, etc....
2. Each of these development/features are then described in detail (i.e. what the problem is and what your solution will be) and categorised as quick win or major release. These are then posted like a leader board type application either on your website or "Get Satisfaction" (should be simple for your collective skills to create a custom application).
3. You then email all your users and invite them to vote on these development/feature requests so that the whole community is involved and not just those of us who post regularly to the site. This can then form the basis of your roadmap prioritisation which should also be published along with the leader board voting system, everyone has a clear idea of what is coming and how to get something addressed.
Why would this be a good idea? Well firstly it means that your users feel involved in the development process and conversely you know exactly what they want and when. Secondly, it reduces the volume of information you have to trawl through when you do decide to make a development, once you publish the problem and your proposed solution there is no argument as to what people are voting for and how long they can expect to wait for it as this is all included in the development/feature request they vote for.
On a personal note, this is how I run projects which I am involved with, it helps me greatly to determine priorities in a formal way and the users are happier to except problems/issues with the system that have not been fixed as they feel that they are involved in the decision making process.
Anyway, hope this of use an that maybe we see something along these lines.
Cheers
Jason
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Inappropriate?Jason,
You're right: we've been pretty bad at expectation management so far (and I'm the guiltiest of all of us, I'm afraid).
The problem is that a published, democratic roadmap is not the answer. Our priorities are constantly shifting, seemingly unconnected features can sometimes have significant dependencies, and even with a 4-6 week release cycle we still can't develop as fast as we would like.
We are certainly influenced in our prioritisation by the feedback of our existing and potential users. We hear loud and clear that for many people our lack of multi-currency accounting is a showstopper. But user feedback is only one of many, many factors which determine the next feature we choose to develop, and it's actually only just after each release that we finalise the features of the following one.
From a user point of view - when you have a pet feature requirement in mind - we know that can be frustrating. I regret that. But from a business point of view it's important that we can 'turn on a dime' sometimes.
Publishing a roadmap which has been democratically arrived at, with promised delivery dates, would be a significant inhibitor to our business. I'm sure you wouldn't want that, and it's no coincidence that none of our competitors offer this either ;->
We really are working very hard to make FreeAgent better all the time. And we will get round to everything important in the end.
EMPLOYEE
