Feature Request Template: How to Write Requests That Get Results
Most feature requests fail to communicate the actual need. "Add a dashboard" tells your team nothing about what the user wants to accomplish. A simple template fixes this by guiding users to provide the context that matters.
The Essential Feature Request Template
A good feature request has three parts:
1. What do you want?
A clear, specific description of the feature. Not a solution — a capability.
- Good: "I want to export my report data as a CSV file"
- Vague: "Better reports"
2. Why do you need it?
The use case or problem this solves. This is the most important part — it tells your team the underlying need, which might have a better solution than what the user imagined.
- Good: "I need to share monthly metrics with my finance team in a spreadsheet. Currently I copy-paste values manually, which takes 30 minutes."
- Vague: "It would be useful"
3. How do you solve this today?
Current workarounds reveal the severity of the problem. No workaround means the feature is blocking. A tedious workaround means it's painful. An easy workaround means it's nice-to-have.
- Good: "I screenshot each chart and paste into a Google Sheet manually"
- Nothing: Even "I don't — I just skip it" is useful context
Template for Public Board Submissions
When setting up submissions on your public board, guide users with placeholder text:
Title: [What you want — be specific]
Description:
What: [Describe the feature or change]
Why: [What problem does this solve for you?]
Current workaround: [How do you handle this today?]
Keep it simple. Three fields is enough. More than that and users abandon the form.
Template for Internal Bug Reports
For bugs reported on a public board, guide users differently:
Title: [What's broken — be specific]
Description:
What happened: [Describe the issue]
Expected behavior: [What should have happened]
Steps to reproduce: [How to trigger the bug]
Device/browser: [Optional but helpful]
Why Templates Improve Prioritization
When every request follows the same structure, your team can compare them consistently. "Export CSV — saves 30 minutes weekly — no workaround" is clearly higher priority than "Better reports — would be nice — can use screenshots."
Templates also reduce follow-up questions. Your team spends less time asking "what do you mean by X?" and more time building.