Guidelines & How-To: Product Ideas in the Community

ACCESS THE PRODUCT IDEAS MODULE HERE

HOW CAN I SUBMIT AN IDEA? 📝

1. ✅  Login: Ensure you are logged in to the Community to access the Product Ideas module and see all the submitted product ideas!
    

2. 🔎  Search: Before submitting an idea, use the search bar to check if an idea similar to yours has already been posted. If you find a similar idea, upvote and add a comment with any additional information. It’s a more efficient use of your time to search first instead of taking the chance to type out an idea that already exists.
    

3. 📜  Create an Idea: There are two ways to submit a product idea:

   • Click the “CREATE IDEA” button in the Product Ideas module.

   • Click the “CREATE TOPIC” button at the top of your Community home page. Make sure you identify your topic as an idea by selecting “Idea” for the kind of topic (other types available are: Question, Conversation).
      

4. 🗨  Describe your Idea (the more details, the better the idea): Clarify your idea as best as possible, so other Community members and the Product team can understand it well. Share potential use cases and/or an explanation of why you request a specific feature or functionality to showcase your product idea's importance. When everyone is clear on the idea, it increases your chances of getting more votes!
   Hint: Sometimes, graphics, sketches, diagrams, or prototypes of your product to help illustrate your idea are much more effective than long paragraphs. 
    

5. ❗  Identify the product area for your Idea: While the Product Area is marked as optional, we highly urge you to select a Product Area for your idea. This will help make your submitted idea more easily discoverable. 
    

6. 🔖  Tag your Idea: Listing out a keyword that relates to your Idea will better help us sort and identify your ideas to share with the Product team. For example, if your idea relates to Field Notes, include “Field Notes” in your post. You can use more than one tag, but it’s more helpful to be specific than vague.

GUIDELINES 🚨

Please follow the specific guidelines the OpenSpace Community sets for Product Ideation. That said, familiarize yourself with the below applicable rules before posting to ensure it is a place for innovation, growth, and learning!

• One Idea should be submitted at a time: While sharing a bunch of your ideas in one post may be easier, please avoid doing so. Feel free to submit as many ideas as you want so long as you divide them into separate posts. When an individual post contains multiple ideas, it becomes harder to identify which idea people who voted on your post want to be implemented.
   

• Search previous Ideas before submitting:  It's best to search for your Idea via the search bar, and if an idea surfaces, add your vote and comment to resurface it again. This is because your Idea might already exist in the community from another member. If it does not exist, then submit a new idea.
   

• Voting on Ideas: If you come across product ideas submitted by other Community members that you would also want to be implemented, make sure to vote on them! In addition, you can leave comments on ideas if you want to provide more detail or add your perspective on why you voted.
   

• Supporting others' Ideas: Be open to feedback and constructive criticism from other Community members. Remember that a community forum is a place for collaboration and discussion, so be prepared to listen to and consider the perspectives of others.