I’m excited to share something I’ve been tinkering with in my spare time. As a product manager, I’ve always felt the need for a simple, no-nonsense tool to help prioritize product features. You know, a way to sift through all those ideas and figure out which ones are worth pursuing. Well, I finally decided to roll up my sleeves and create one myself—with a little help from ChatGPT. It’s amazing how quickly ideas can turn into reality these days!

What’s This All About?

Say hello to the Feature Ranking Tool! It’s a straightforward web app designed to help you evaluate and prioritize features for your projects. Whether you’re managing a product, developing software, or just juggling a bunch of ideas, this tool might be just what you need.

Why Did I Make It?

I’ve often found myself overwhelmed with feature requests and ideas coming from all directions. Existing tools were either too complex or didn’t quite fit what I was looking for. I wanted something intuitive, easy to use, and tailored to the way I think about feature prioritization. So, I decided to build it myself. And let me tell you, leveraging ChatGPT made the whole process a lot smoother!

The Theory Behind the Ranking

I wanted to base the feature evaluation on a solid framework that balances both value and effort. The idea is to focus on features that provide the most benefit to users and the business while considering the resources required to implement them.

Here’s how it works:

• Value Assessment: Features are evaluated based on their potential impact. This includes factors like user satisfaction, market demand, revenue potential, and alignment with strategic goals.
• Effort Estimation: This considers the resources needed to implement the feature, such as development time, complexity, and required expertise.

By plotting features on a Value vs. Effort matrix, you can easily identify:

• Quick Wins: High value, low effort. These are the gems you want to tackle first.
• Major Projects: High value, high effort. Worthwhile but require significant resources.
• Fill-ins: Low value, low effort. Good for filling gaps in the schedule.
• Time Wasters: Low value, high effort. Probably best to avoid these.

This framework helps ensure that you’re investing your time and resources into features that will make the most significant impact.

What Can You Do with the Feature Ranking Tool?

• Add Your Features: Input all the features or ideas you have in mind.
• Evaluate Them in Three Different Ways:
  • Beginner Mode: Answer a few guided questions to assess each feature’s value and effort required.
  • Advanced Mode: Use sliders to fine-tune ratings based on various criteria.
  • Lazy Mode: Let the AI auto-rank your features based on a brief description.
• Visualize Your Priorities: See your features plotted on a Value vs. Effort matrix, making it easy to spot the quick wins and major projects.
• Import and Export: Upload features via CSV or export your results to share with your team or for further analysis.

Check It Out!

I’m thrilled (and a bit nervous) to invite you to try out the Feature Ranking Tool. You can find it here. Keep in mind, this is version 1. It’s fresh off the press and hasn’t been fully tested yet.

I Need Your Feedback!

Since this is a personal project and not my day job, I haven’t had the chance to put it through all the paces. That’s where you come in!

• Try it out: Play around with it, add some features, and see how it works for you.
• Break it (gently): If you find any bugs or things that don’t quite work right, please let me know.
• Share your thoughts: Have ideas on how to make it better? I’d love to hear them. Your feedback is super valuable and will help me improve the tool.

A Big Thanks

Creating this tool has been a fun journey, and I’m excited to share it with you all. Huge shoutout to ChatGPT for being an awesome coding buddy throughout the process! I hope you find the Feature Ranking Tool as helpful as I do. Looking forward to your feedback and seeing how you use it to bring your projects to life.