We Need To Talk About Feature Upvote

It seems that there is general agreement that we should move back to using our Discourse forum for feature request functionality. In that light, I’ve created this list of tasks:

Migrating to Discuss Feature Request from Feature Upvote

Stage 1: Reactivating Feature Request and Staging

  • Reactivate our Feature Request functionality
    • Move the Feature Request category out of Archive
  • Upgrade our feature voting functionality to allow voting from the list
  • Jo (because only Jo currently has admin power for Feature Upvote… Thankfully he’s still here) to downgrade our Feature Upvote account to a rolling monthly subscription. @JoRain
    • This will give us more time to migrate and phase Feature Upvote out
    • Removed because Jo reports that we can’t do this, also the deadline for resubscription has now passed.
  • Jo to export our Feature Upvote data @JoRain
  • Until we stop using Feature Upvote maintain the admin credentials in BitWarden @siddarthkay @jakubgs
  • Perform a usability test of the new feature voting process
    • Gather feedback from a few community members / CCs to identify pain points
    • Make any minor adjustments based on feedback before launching widely

Provided that the Discourse based feature voting has no unresolved issues, proceed below.

Stage 2: Migration Preparation

  • Recover exported features from Feature Upvote
    • If possible into Discourse
    • If not into GitHub issues
  • Identify all places that Feature Upvote is mentioned:
    • In the website
    • In our Discourse forum
    • In our apps
    • In our designs
  • Develop a process for ongoing feature requests within Discourse
    • Define categories/tags for feature discussions
    • Set up guidelines for community feedback and voting
    • Assign moderators
    • Train moderators on new workflows
  • Prepare comms for updating our community about the correct place to submit feature requests.

Stage 3: Migrate

  • Repoint all instances of Feature Upvote to Discourse:
    • In the website
    • In our Discourse forum
    • In our apps
    • In our designs
  • Review existing feature requests for relevance
    • Filter or merge any duplicate requests
    • Update and/or close the status of older requests, if still relevant
  • Update documentation and FAQ
    • Add a new section on how to use the upgraded feature voting functionality
    • Provide a brief overview of the decision to move from Feature Upvote to Discourse
  • Release prepared comms to community

Stage 4: Clean up

  • Remove Feature Upvote entirely
  • Schedule post-migration review meeting
    • Assess overall satisfaction and any final adjustments needed
    • Create a roadmap for any planned improvements based on feedback

Stage 5: Post-Clean up

  • Investigate integrating Discourse with other relevant platforms
    • Evaluate plugins or APIs to connect Discourse with internal systems
    • Set up notifications or summaries to keep teams informed of popular requests