Forum Discussion

mgroen2's avatar
mgroen2
Super Contributor
10 years ago

Feature requests -> implementation process or planning (product roadmap)?

Hi all,

 

Currently, a lot of feature requests of TestComplete are on the Feature request page .

(including a couple of them I created myself). 

Voting mechanism is working ok (I guess).

But what is the process of implementing these feature requests?

I mean, is selection done pure by number of received votes? Or product impact (commercial value)? Number of required hours to program/implement/test the feature?  Date created? Or a combination of those? Is there a "magic"formula which is used?

I noticed a feature request has 40 votes, then one with 36 votes, then 24, 22, etc. A lot of requests are in the range of 10 to 1 votes, but could be "quick wins" (easy to build)? 

Has there been made a plan? A product release planning? Which requests are (going to be) implemented in future requests?

 

I would like to know because I am in a tool selection process and some features which will become available (or not) might be relevant for selection.

 

Hope it is possible to gain insight in how the TestComplete product is evolving.

 

Thanks,
Mathijs

 

 

 

4 Replies

  • MKozinets's avatar
    MKozinets
    Icon for Staff rankStaff
    10 years ago

    Hi Mathijs,

    Thank you for your question. To reiterate what Tanya said; as the Product Owner I meet with the R&D and Customer Care teams weekly to review customer requests coming to our Customer Care portal as well as through the Community.

     

    Just as you mentioned in your question, we look at several factors when prioritizing customer enhancement requests. Number of votes received in the community is very important to us, so first we filter requests by number of community votes and we also look through all new requests as well. Next we filter these by the product impact and also the size of the implementation effort. Whenever possible, if we have to postpone a great customer suggestion we try to provide an explanation; for example if a solution fits into a larger fundament redesign that is planned for the future.

     

    In addition, we search the Community for topics that are being already considered for the product roadmap. This is so that we can more accurately gauge the demand and to better understand the specific use-cases.

     

    Moreover, we do have consistent internal release planning approach, where the team reviews many external inputs in addition to feedback from the Community, such as industry trends, win/loss analysis, competitive analysis, direct customer feedback, customer enhancements requests, customer satisfaction survey results and industry analysts research.

    Please let me know if you have any other questions for the product team.

     

    Best Regards,

    Masha

    • mgroen2's avatar
      mgroen2
      Super Contributor
      10 years ago

      Hi Masha,

       

      thank you for the clarification; about the proces of evaluating, gauging and implementing the feature requests, within Smartbears product teams. I think I have to do it with your information.

       

      However, I still don't have a clear insight on the gauging of the approx 185 new ideas. The majority of them have not yet been evaluated or at least the status have not been set according to it's gauging.

       

      I am in the middle of a product selection processes and some of the feature requests which have not yet been gauged, are very important to the organization I am affliated to. Unfortunately they have not been gauged (still have status New Idea), so I cannot justify these feature requests on its value for the company.

       

      Do you see what I mean?

       

      Regards,

      Mathijs

  • TanyaYatskovska's avatar
    TanyaYatskovska
    Icon for Alumni rankAlumni
    10 years ago

    Hi Mathijs,

     

    Thanks for this question. Actually, our TestComplete Product Owner monitors the submitted feature requests and discuss the possibility of their implementation with our R&D Team.

     

    When you look at the most popular ideas, you can see that many of them were reviewed and some decisions were made. Once our product team reviewed a feature request, we change its status. In that forum, you can see how many ideas were reviewed, implemented, postponed, etc.

     

     

    • mgroen2's avatar
      mgroen2
      Super Contributor
      10 years ago

      TanyaYatskovska , thanks for the reaction.

       

      You explained that the product owner monitors and discusses their implementation with R&D. Who is the product owner? Is this someone within Smartbear?

       

      Also, and please dont feel offended, I noticed that a lot of new ideas (actually, most of them) do not have a status yet (other that status (new). 

       

      Accepted for Discussion: 7

      Selected for Dev: 3

      Postponed: 1

      Implemented: 15

       

      makes a total of 26 ideas which have been reviewed (and status changed). What about the other 182 with status New Idea ? Some of the ideas are more than 1 year old. (for example this one). They still have status "New" ??