Best Of

No, the ideas exchange is alive and well

We have Domo heads of product that look at the ideas and takes them into consideration when developing new products. I saw multiple presentations at Domopalooza where screenshots from the ideas exchange were used as evidence that a feature was in high demand among users. Most Domo users know about the ideas exchange, and I have often heard the suggestion from Domo staff and community members to post to the idea exchange as a potential solution for an issue where they can not do something with the current Domo functionality.

Yes, the ideas exchange is broken

There are about 2,400 ideas in the exchange. Almost all of them are stuck in purgatory and have been for years. Based on some quick filtering of idea status, this is where I see most of the ideas:

If it has been 6 years, the ideas is not 'awaiting review from the product team', it is awaiting sweet release from a slow and agonizing death.

I can also tell there is not a strong system that compiles and puts ideas in front of the correct product people. If the product team looks at the ideas, it's because they have gone out of their way to do so, not because it is a regular part of their workstream.

I would be curious what others think. Is the ideas exchange dead in the water or still bobbing along just fine?

Can it be fixed?

Here's where I would start:

• Atomize ideas. Most ideas posted are actually multiple ideas. I'm very guilty of this in the ideas I post. My Trellis Everything™ idea suggests the ability to trellis 7 different chart types. If Domo were to drop everything and begin work on that idea, I don't know if different people would be responsible for each of those chart types, but if so, then the idea should be split into each unit of work needed based on who would complete it. Maybe 2 of those 7 chart types would be very easy to trellis, so they could be prioritized while the other 5 are less realistic.
• Group similar ideas. There should be a way to relate/connect/merge ideas that are similar. This would be easier if the ideas were already atomized.
• Systems of review. While the backlog is large, the number of new ideas each week is generally in the single digits. It should be possible to assess each new idea for feasibility and give a quick update.
• More informative statuses.
  • "We reviewed this, and it is unlikely to be added to our roadmap without more customer demand"
  • "This does not fit into our current strategic vision"
  • "We plan to roll out a similar feature in six months"
  • "Something similar is out in Beta"
• Changes in status. If something has the same status for more than around 6 months, it should be reviewed again and updated.
  • "This has been pushed to May 2027"
• Incentivize participation/group moderation. I don't have access to analytics, but based on scrolling through posts, I would estimate the median question on the community forum gets about 40 views and the median idea gets about 15. I don't totally understand how all the points on the forum work, but I know you get points for answering questions (even if the answer is only tangentially related to the question). But it doesn't seem like you get any points for upvoting or commenting on ideas. Maybe some of the work of my above suggestions could be farmed to the community and incentivized? Points for helpfully pairing similar ideas? Points for atomizing an idea into its constituent parts?
• Man the ship. There is no such thing as a healthy internet forum without human moderation; what makes Wikipedia great is its army of editors. As far as I can tell, there is essentially no one tending to the Ideas Exchange, except perhaps to remove anything blatantly offensive/spammy. The Ideas exchange is currently on autopilot and needs a sturdy captain at the helm. If it were up to me, I would say we need someone paid by Domo to actively manage the community forums. We could call him or her the Community Captain or the Community Forums Manager or Community Activity Manager (CAM) or something?

Are there ways you think it should be improved?

Great post @DavidChurchman ! I agree that much of what gets submitted into the Ideas Exchange gets lost or overlooked. It seems like Domo could use AI to mine the Ideas Exchange and group similar ideas together as well as do some other prep work to help the product or engineering team asses if something could be put on the roadmap.

@CamBarnes is the new Community Manager. Perhaps he could help improve how ideas are managed.