(Originally posted 2003.Apr.13 Sun)
Consider tracking feature requests using a cork board... (one cork board per product) each time a feature request comes in, compare it to what's already on the cork board. If it's not there, find a place on the cork board for it, write it on a sticky note or index card, and post it. If it's already there, add a hashmark to indicate multiple requests for that feature.
At some point, start grouping the feature requests that are on the cork board... this set of 9 feature requests can be grouped under "scriptability", this set can be grouped under "import/export", this group can be grouped under XX or YY.
Imagine this cork board visible to everyone at the company... other people could add cards to the cork board, because they see a missing area. The VP could add a comment to the XX grouping, saying that these features are not valuable to the more profitable customer base they want to target, only those laggards that haven't upgraded to the latest product version. Customer Support representatives could add to the cork board those off-hand comments said by end-users that they didn't think important enough to file as a formal feature requests.
Imagine being able to see patterns and order emerge out of the chaos of individual feature requests... someone sees this and says "I have an idea for a new product line!"
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