Ask HN: How do you prioritize your features?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=941467

by pkc • 17 years ago

4 3 17 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

We launched our site http://roorky.com recently. Its a desktop application. We have a set of features planned. But we don't know which one is more useful to our users and how exactly it gets used.

  What is the usual approach you take to decide which features to put in which release? Currently we have a web page where in users can vote for features they want. Any other creative ideas.

Zev• 17 years ago

For launch, I personally try to decide whats essential to the application at hand - if this feature isn't in the application, is it still the same application?

Example: If you're making a todo list, you need to be able to add entries and mark them completed. Thats it. Reminders are nice, but not essential. Same with tagging and organizing todos, logbook to see when they were completed, searching the todos, etc. Very useful to have, but not essential to the application. A todo list is still a todo list without them.

After launch, its much more guided by A. What I personally think would be a nice addition to the application and B. What features are commonly requested by the user. B takes priority over A, if its a paid application. After all, you want users to recommend your product. What better way then to give them something that you know they want?

Example: I would want a way to see how often I complete tasks, what days that I'm most productive on, etc. Users request to be able to search todos and edit details. Thats what gets implemented first, and what I want gets done later, when there is more time.

aichcon• 17 years ago

You should have a vision for your product that is your north star, but for less 'big picture' features, let your users do your prioritization for you. Proactively communicate with them and keep track of feature requests. The frequent requests will bubble up - focus on those.

petervandijck• 17 years ago

2 things:

1. Don't build the 100 features all the competition has, build the 1 feature that's fundamentally different from how they do things.

2. Measure usage

Ask HN: How do you prioritize your features?

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