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Time to overhaul the Idea Exchange?

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Level 10
The Idea Exchange is, in general, a great idea....to get product enhancement ideas from customers and allow them to vote on them in order to guage the level of demand for the various ideas. Once the number of votes reaches 45 it crosses a threshold where Product Management are meant to review and respond. All good so far.... The customer's natural assumption is that ideas over 45 votes should be seriously considered by Product Management and have a good chance of being added into development plans. Otherwise, what's the point of all the effort everyone is putting in to submit and vote on the ideas? With that in mind, the results are a bit disappointing. Picking some of the more popular categories, these are the results of ideas which reached 45 votes: My Work : 2 under consideration and 5 not planned (including the top 3 not planned). Resource Management: 2 under consideration and 2 not planned. Projects: 1 delivered, 3 planned, 3 under consideration, and 5 not planned. There are also a few occasions (e.g. in the My Work area) where ideas have been marked as 'Not Planned' without even a response explaining why. Some constructive ideas to help improve the Idea Exchange moving forward: Workfront to reserve a portion of each release specifically for Idea Exchange ideas. Mention on the release notes that the idea came from the Idea Exchange. Curation of ideas by Product Management to reduce duplicate ideas. This will ensure that it is easier to find the right idea to vote for, and votes are not split across multiple ideas which are essentially the same. Add a new response category of "Backlog" or something similar to identify that Product Management like the idea and plan to introduce it at some point, although not immediately enough to warrant a 'Planned' status. This could reduce the number of 'Not Planned' responses. 'Not Planned' should only be used when Product Management firmly disagree with the idea, and they should provide a fairly detailed explanation as to why. If Product Management see an idea early on and they know it won't ever get done, then they should use the Not Planned category early, before waiting for the 45 votes. Regards, David Cornwell
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Level 9
Well put! I especially like the idea of calling out the features that come from Idea Exchange to help show the impact its having. I'm sure that there are a LOT of posts hanging around in there, but some additional curation/communication would go a long way to illustrating that the IE is thriving rather than a place where good ideas go to die. Anthony Pernice Healthcare Consultancy Group

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Level 5
Changes to Idea Exchange are coming in the next several months. These include allowing more detailed curation by Product Managers to merge duplicate issues and see who is requesting and upvoting ideas to get more information or to include those customers in early feedback. Melinda Layten Technical Project Manager - API and Integration Workfront

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Level 10
We need clarification about topics in the Idea exchange. For example, when I get told "oh, that's a great idea, put it in the Idea Exchange" and the idea's for Home, where does that go--Other? Or My Work since Home is replacing My Work? -skye

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Level 10
Well put, David! I especially like the Idea of setting time aside in each Release to address Ideas from the Exchange and calling it out in the Release Notes. It would be nice to see priority items voted on by the community getting traction and getting into production sooner rather than later! It would go a long way with the WF User Community to show that they are not only listening to our concerns, but willing to act on them quickly. :slightly_smiling_face: Admin Kelly-Wehrmann SSFCU

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Level 9
Great post, David. I agree with all of your ideas (too bad I can't vote for them 45 times!). The Idea Exchange seems to have been suffering from a policy of benign neglect, so I was pleased to see Melinda's response to you. I would also suggest a monthly Announcement to the admin users that provides some additional useful analysis on current ideas in the Exchange, such as: Ideas that are close to 45 votes--perhaps a 35- or 40-vote threshold? Top 5 "fastest vote-getters" this month (i.e., the most popular new ideas) Ideas that changed status this month (to "Planned," "Under Consideration," or "Not Planned") For ideas that that changed to "Not Planned," the reason(s) for the change (per David's suggestion) Such communication would go a long way to demonstrating active engagement with the Exchange on Workfront's part, as well as helping us admins track the progress and "ebb and flow" of ideas. Eric Manning Language Line Translation Solutions

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Level 10
To be fair, has everyone noticed the Support page ("https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us" title="https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us">https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us ) now includes a trending ideas section? I mean, it's a good start. -skye

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Level 10
I am so happy to see this post - I agree with David & others who have responded. I sent a communication to Workfront last month with a lot of the same type of comments. I asked if they could show me how the Idea Exchange is valuable & that someone at Workfront is listening, because I am not seeing that it is productive use of my time. Doesn't seem like anyone is listening to us or our votes I'd like some reporting back on what is implemented and not-implemented Who at Workfront is looking at the ideas? How are the ideas grouped? Can a survey go out to admins asking what we think of the idea exchange? (and this survey be shared with all) Concerns voiced with the New Home everyone has been pointed out Personally, I am looking for basic functionality improvements & these don't seem planned even though many admins want these improvements. Marie Kelly The MetroHealth System

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Level 1
Hi all - I totally agree that there is no transparency and no communication on which ideas from the Idea Exchange are going to see light of day, and when. Our team posted a suggestion that's critical for us may months ago (ability to attach images to comments). This suggestion was merge with another from another client. Since then, no news from our WF reps or from the Idea Exchange threads on when this can be worked on and what is an anticipated rollout date. Could we get a newsletter with the planned enhancements? or have this posted in the blog?? Thank you Perrine Pavageau The New York Times

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Level 10
On a related topic that I forgot to mention, I'm sure most of you would be familiar with occasions where you have contacted Support with an issue that is a clear bug / design flaw that would be an easy fix and they ask you to raise it on the Idea Exchange. I personally refuse to do this (and tell Support so) unless it is a genuine new idea, in which case I wouldn't have contacted Support anyway. David Cornwell