How 3 recent customer ideas shaped our roadmap
A customer recently told us, "I love it when I'm in a meeting where people are asking for [a feature] — then I get an email from Aha! saying it's now live." Feedback like this is a powerful reminder of why we value your ideas. There is something especially meaningful about turning customer requests into real features that make a difference.
Customer input shapes what we build — here is how we decide which ideas become features.
It is always rewarding to deliver what customers have specifically asked for. Since we launched our ideas portal in 2014 (back before Aha! Ideas became a product), we have shipped thousands of customer ideas. That number reflects not only the thoughtfulness of our customers, but also the dedication of our team to act on your input!
Of course, not every idea makes it to the roadmap. The sheer volume of ideas is part of the challenge, but the bigger factor is alignment. The ideas we prioritize must solve real problems for our customers while supporting the product vision. This means we often have to say "no," "not now," or "not this way."
Ideas get a "yes" when they match key criteria: They fit our strategy, have broad customer appeal, and balance the impact they deliver with the effort required to build them.
We carefully evaluate every suggestion against a few key criteria:
Strategic alignment: Does it support our business and product goals?
Customer interest: How many votes has the idea received?
Impact potential: Which customer organizations are asking for it, and how many users would benefit?
Effort: How much effort is required to build it?
If the details interest you, we have written a lot about our idea management process, prioritization methods (including our product value scorecard), and how we use our own software to manage it all. But the truth is that every idea follows a unique path.
Real examples often explain it best. Here are three customer ideas that recently made it to our roadmap — and why we decided to build them.
A new Jira integration with Aha! Ideas
Customer challenge: Product managers receive a constant stream of feedback. Some of it involves big, bold ideas, but much of it is smaller enhancements or bug fixes that need quick attention from engineering.
The idea: Provide a more direct way to send ideas from an ideas portal to Jira. (See the idea.)
Our thought process: Teams already use the Aha! Roadmaps Jira integration to move prioritized work into development. However, moving ideas from Aha! Ideas to Jira required promoting them to features or requirements first — a helpful process for refining big initiatives, but an inefficient one for smaller tasks. Customers told us this slowed them down when managing quick fixes or minor updates. Solving this would save time and streamline workflows.
The result: We launched a new Aha! Ideas integration that lets you send ideas straight to Jira. Now, it is faster and easier to act on smaller tasks and fixes without extra overhead.
As development work progresses in Jira, the idea status also updates in Aha! Ideas.
Streamlined Now, Next, Later roadmaps
Customer challenge: Presenting plans to leadership or customers often works best with a high-level view. Too much detail can lead to unnecessary confusion.
The idea: Create a flexible Now, Next, Later roadmap view that omits details like delivery dates. (See the idea.)
Our thought process: It was already possible to configure all types of views in Aha! Roadmaps — from strategic plans to portfolio-level and feature-based roadmaps. One of the benefits of our starter roadmap was its simplicity. But we did not have a view specifically designed for communicating high-level plans in a familiar, time-free format.
By number of votes, this was one of our most requested features. Many customers were using workarounds (think: pivot tables or external tools) to create this view. Your feedback showed us this was an opportunity to reduce complexity and deliver a standard format that stakeholders understand.
The result: We introduced Now, Next, Later roadmaps that show key themes and plan highlights without specific dates. (Plus, we have released a few enhancements since — including making Now, Next, Later roadmaps interactive and visible on dashboards.)
It is easy to save your Now, Next, Later roadmap view and add it to a presentation or share it as a webpage.
Dashboard data drill-in
Customer challenge: Aha! dashboards bring multiple reports together in one view. But when customers needed to dig deeper into specific product data, the process was cumbersome — requiring folks to open individual reports, change the type, and adjust filters.
The idea: Enable users to click directly into dashboard charts to explore the details behind the data. (See the idea.)
Our thought process: Customers wanted this feature for some time (and so did our own team!). We knew the existing workflow created unnecessary friction for teams trying to analyze product information efficiently.
However, with the variety of report and record types in Aha! software, we also knew that this enhancement would require meaningful effort to develop. It became clear this was an epic rather than a single feature request. Timing mattered. And in 2024, a broader initiative to improve roadmap and report sharing made it the right moment to prioritize this idea.
The result: We launched drill-in functionality for dashboards, making it easier to review product data. You and your stakeholders can now drill into charts for detailed insights without extra steps.
Control the drill-in details that appear by customizing the underlying report.
Customer ideas shape great products. Keep sharing your feedback, and we will keep building what product teams need to succeed.
We know it is not possible to act on every idea, but we carefully review each one. Your feedback informs every feature we build — whether it is a direct request or an insight that helps us prioritize what will make the greatest impact.
If you are thinking about ways to better incorporate customer ideas into your own product development process, we have resources to help. The Aha! Framework, our in-house product development methodology, is designed to guide product managers in key activities like idea management, prioritization, and planning. Even if you do not follow the whole framework, there are useful practices you can adapt to your workflow.
Get started with these resources:
Capture, organize, and implement customer feedback with Aha! Ideas — try it free for 30 days.
