Forum admins are sharing their workflows for using the feature voting system. Vocino uses a Suggestions category where users post and vote on features, then moves completed suggestions to the parent Meta category.
Vocino is looking for a better workflow, but barryvan suggests using tags and topic closure. In barryvan’s workflow, suggestions are posted in a suggestions category and tagged as “planned”, “underway”, or “complete”. Completed topics are set to close automatically after two weeks, and a separate “Feature feedback” category is used for feedback on completed items.
Vocino finds barryvan’s use of tags insightful. Other companies, such as Joe_Fedric’s photo editing software company and kevinprow’s staffing software company, also use the voting plugin to gauge interest in feature requests. They use categories for Feature Requests and separate development work items, with high community-supported ideas making their way into development.
Fellow forum admins, if you’re using the feature voting system, I would love to learn how you’re using it.
Right now my workflow is as follows:
Users post features in a category called Suggestions where they’re voted on.
This category is a subcategory of our Meta category.
When a suggestion is completed, the topic is moved to the parent Meta and then marked “solved”.
I would prefer to keep all suggestions with resolutions in the same category and just deemphasize them in the list but I think they probably needs a major redesign of that category’s view.
All suggestions are in a suggestions category, and can be voted on there. When we’re planning to do something, I apply the “planned” tag; when it’s underway, I apply the “underway” tag, and when it’s complete, I apply the “complete” tag. Once an item has been completed, I additionally set the topic to automatically close two weeks later, so that people get their votes back.
To accommodate feedback on completed items, I have a separate “Feature feedback” category. I would dearly love to be able to close off votes without closing off the conversation on the original suggestion, though.
So that all of this works, I’ve customised the look of the specific tags I’m using – “planned” is yellow, “underway” is blue, and “complete” is green. I’ve also tweaked the styling of the vote count for topics you’ve voted on.
We are a staffing software company, and we use a category for Feature Requests that our community can contribute to. We do our billable development engagements separately, but when people want free stuff, they post in our Discourse and those with high community support find their way into development work items. Some of our staff members also submit their ideas here, even if the customer wasn’t interested in doing so, if they like the idea as well.
