Voting for new features
 

Is there a place in the forum where I can view a general list of feature requests where I can simply vote for a feature? I.e. is there something like a poll going on?

It would be great to see what others are suggesting in a list form and for users with an account to have their say on each feature.

Every user could maybe evaluate each feature request by clicking in a box from 1 (unimportant) to 5 (important). Once someone has cast their vote they can then see the overall result.

There need not be any discussion of any sort, simply the figures.

This way Omnifocus can get some snappy feedback, and users can see what features others wish for (or which are in high demand) and which are likely to come - if OF decides to respond to the power of the masses.

Good idea?

Unfortunately, there is no place you can see such a list, unless you work for Omni. About all you can do is read the forums, look for people discussing ideas that you would like to see, and send in your feedback asking for those same futures.

I suspect that making it so easy to vote for everything might diminish the utility of the voting process for Omni. Right now, you've got to go to a little bit of trouble to say "me too" and only those who feel strongly will bother.

Our current system (using the email sent to the [EMAIL="omnifocus@omnigroup.com"]support ninjas[/EMAIL] as "real" feedback) has the disadvantage of being opaque, but otherwise serves our needs well. We've discussed making customer requests more public, but we haven't found a method of doing so that we're happy with yet.

Any solution we came up with would have to handle the years and years of feedback in our existing database. Ideally, it wouldn't require big changes to the way the Support Ninjas help people and record the feedback they receive. It would need to prevent folks from signing up for a bunch of forum accounts in order to game the system.

Thus far, when we've discussed it, it's always ended up looking like it would require more engineering time than we're comfortable pulling away from our other projects.

I'm definitely keeping an eye out for good solutions, though - I find some of the things that [URL="http://uservoice.com/"]uservoice.com[/URL] has done pretty interesting, for example.

Great to hear that you are always keen on trying to find better ways of doing things. I guess one could say that's the Omni-way of doing things =)

I've always been very happy with the great response time by your feedback group and I agree that the quality of feedback in written form is richer and more to the point (yet more work to go through). Forums are also great and by no means should they be dropped/replaced.

I was only thinking of a way one could maybe get the voice of those heard, who don't have the time to become so engaged with such a product (especially now, that the customer base has expanded immensely with the fantastic iPhone app) and possibly to make OmniGroup's task of creating up 'demand statistics' easier.

uservoice.com does look quite good and I'm sure you'll find the best solution for your company, that will not take up too many resources off your core projects.

Really looking forward to 1.7 and 2.0!

Ravelry.com has a great way to track all the various requests and votes for stuff. Might be able to use their system for OF.

[QUOTE=Brian;64172]Our current system (using the email sent to the [EMAIL="omnifocus@omnigroup.com"]support ninjas[/EMAIL] as "real" feedback) has the disadvantage of being opaque, but otherwise serves our needs well. We've discussed making customer requests more public, but we haven't found a method of doing so that we're happy with yet.[/QUOTE]
The problem I have with your current method is that I keep on forgetting whether or not I have voted for something! I'm sure that there are tens of features or enhancements I've read about on the forum that I would have liked to add my vote for but forgot to or couldn't do so at the time. There are probably also a fair number where I have voted more than once (do they all count? ;) ) because I've read a revived thread and thought, "hey, I should vote for that!" when I already did the first time around.

Using SFDC Ideas
 

We had the same problem and wanted to put a system in place integrated to what we were already using in support where users could add their feature request and others could vote on them. As we were using Salesforce as our CRM as well as support system we added Salesforce Ideas ([url]http://blogs.salesforce.com/ideas/[/url]) into the mix. It's working great for us.

Horst

[QUOTE=Brian;64172]It would need to prevent folks from signing up for a bunch of forum accounts in order to game the system.[/QUOTE]

You could use license information to prevent "vote spamming". One license, one voter.

OF users could also have a total of "10 vote points" that they could associate to any feature request. With such a limitation, people will vote for what really matters to them, not "everything that sounds cool" ;-)

[QUOTE=Brian;64172]Thus far, when we've discussed it, it's always ended up looking like it would require more engineering time than we're comfortable pulling away from our other projects.[/QUOTE]

Good luck finding a solution. That would be great for your users, and thus, Omni ;-)

[QUOTE=Satri;64326]You could use license information to prevent "vote spamming". One license, one voter.[/QUOTE]

That works from within the app, but the original suggestion targeted forum visitors; those accounts don't require you to enter a product code. :-)

[QUOTE=Satri;64326]OF users could also have a total of "10 vote points" that they could associate to any feature request. With such a limitation, people will vote for what really matters to them, not "everything that sounds cool" ;-)[/QUOTE]

Yep, that idea was one of the things I liked about uservoice when I looked at their system.

[QUOTE=JKT;64237]I'm sure that there are tens of features or enhancements I've read about on the forum that I would have liked to add my vote for but forgot to or couldn't do so at the time. There are probably also a fair number where I have voted more than once (do they all count? ;) ) because I've read a revived thread and thought, "hey, I should vote for that!" when I already did the first time around.[/QUOTE]

Multiple votes from one user don't help [I]as much[/I], but they don't hurt, either. And yeah, you've probably not voted on some of the items you'd like to vote for, but I'm willing to bet that you've voted for the things you care about the most. Once we make those changes, there's time for you to remember and vote for the smaller stuff.