Filter Feature Requests to Maintain Product Vision

As a SaaS product grows, it will be inundated with feature requests. While customer feedback is vital, building everything customers ask for is a direct path to a bloated, unfocused, and confusing product. The founder's role is to act as a gatekeeper, protecting the product's vision and focus.

A Framework for Filtering Feature Requests:

A simple way to categorize requests is to put them into three buckets:

1. The Crackpots (~10-15%):

   • Requests that are completely outside the scope of your product, would require building an entirely new product, or are the opposite of your product's core strengths.
   • Action: Say "no" quickly and politely.

2. The No-Brainers (~20%):

   • Ideas that are already on your roadmap or are so obviously beneficial that they should be prioritized immediately.
   • These often become unique features that differentiate you from competitors.
   • Action: Build them.

3. The In-Betweens (~65-70%):

   • The majority of requests. These are good ideas, but you cannot build them all.
   • Action: Filter them through a series of questions.

Three Questions for "In-Between" Requests:

1. What is the use case? Understand the underlying problem. Can it be solved with an existing feature?
2. What percentage of customers will use this? Is this a niche request or something that benefits a large portion of your user base? If it's for a small but valuable segment (e.g., power users), consider building it as a hidden or on-request feature to avoid cluttering the main UI.
3. Does this fit my product vision? Every feature has an opportunity cost. If a request, even a popular one, doesn't align with your long-term vision for the product, it's often best to say "no."

Innovation is as much about saying "no" to good ideas as it is about saying "yes" to great ones.

Tags: #SaaS #product-management #feature-requests #product-vision #focus #strategy