Tips for Submitting Great Feature Requests
At Web Services, it’s our goal to continuously improve all of the pages housed within Carleton.ca, and that means we always welcome your web suggestions and feature requests. In fact, we have a handy feature request form just for that purpose. Please use it!
That said, some feature requests are a better fit for Carleton.ca than others. We’re more likely to successfully implement a new web feature if we fully understand the problem a new feature is trying to solve. As well, new web features should align with the look and feel of Carleton.ca, fit into our current web infrastructure, and serve all web managers at Carleton.
As a potential requester of new web features, we want to set you up for success. We’ve compiled a list of tips for submitting feature requests based on many years of experience within the Web Services team. Please use them as a guide the next time you submit a feature request.
Understand the problem you’re trying to solve
When approaching Web Services about new web features, it’s best to take the time to understand the problem you’re trying to solve in advance. Some questions you can ask yourself include:
- What kinds of functionality would this new feature bring to our site?
- Would this new feature fill a gap for visitors to our site?
- Are we seeing lower web traffic in the absence of this feature?
Spending the time to answer these questions will help you better communicate your needs and help us get to work finding solutions.
About solutions. It’s best not to approach us with a fixed solution already in mind, because there are many factors we need to consider before implementing new features. Flexibility is important for everyone involved. For best results, we recommend coming to us with your web-related problems and leaving the solutions to us.
Try to avoid the allure of flashy web design
There is no shortage of flashy page design on the web! We love slick websites – in fact, you’ll see some very attractive web design as part of our upcoming cuTheme rollout. That said, if a flashy new feature isn’t in the service of solving a problem or fulfilling a need, it’s likely not a great fit for Carleton.ca.
Spotted something you like on a non-Carleton website? Great, send it our way!
We’ll take a look at it and determine if there’s a way to fit the feature into our development roadmap.
But. And there’s always a but. Understand that Carleton.ca is unique in many ways, and that features and solutions from other websites won’t necessarily transfer over seamlessly. In that case, we’ll work with you to find a solution that best fits your needs.
Put yourself in the shoes of your fellow site managers
When thinking about putting together a feature request to solve a web-related problem, put yourself in the shoes of your fellow site managers to see how they might see the problem. You might even want to start a dialogue with them to get their read on the issue before submitting your request. You’ll be able to add their thoughts to your request and help us understand the scope of the problem.
Taking the time to do this might mean your feature request has a positive impact on the entire university. And who knows? Maybe your co-workers will return the favour someday.
Have a question for Web Services? Contact us!