Free project template
Feature planning template with every task dated from the day you start
Plan a product feature before anyone builds it: the evidence, the problem, options, a scoped spec and sign-off.
- 4 sections
- 17 tasks
- Opens as a list
- Dated from day 1
Feature plan: [name]
Days count from the day you start. In the app, pick a start or a finish date and each task lands on a real day.
Evidence
- Collect every request, ticket and call note about itDay 1
- Count how many customers asked, and which onesDay 2
- Talk to three of themDay 6
- Book the calls
- Ask what they do today instead
- Write up each call
- Check usage data on the related screensDay 6
Problem
- Write the problem in one paragraph, in customer wordsDay 7High
- Write how you will know it is solvedDay 7High
Options
- Sketch two or three ways to solve itDay 9
- Include the option of doing nothing, and its costDay 9
- Rough effort for each from engineeringDay 10
- Pick one and write whyDay 11
Spec and sign-off
- Write the spec: flows, edge cases, what is out of scopeDay 13
- Low-fidelity screensDay 13
- Review with engineering and supportDay 14
- Sign-off and put it on the roadmapDay 15High
About this template
Most features that miss were decided from a single customer request. This project gathers the evidence first, writes the problem in the customer's words, weighs a few options, and ends with a scoped spec that engineering can estimate.
It stops at sign-off. The build itself belongs in the Build a feature template.
Tips from the template
- Count how many customers asked. One loud customer is still one.
- Write at least two options. Doing nothing counts as one.
- Define how you will know it worked before you sign off.
How to use it in ActivityTracker
- 1Open Tasks and choose Templates.
- 2Find Feature planning and open it. You see every section and task before anything is added.
- 3Pick the day you start, or the day it has to be done by. Every date moves with it.
- 4Press Use template. Rename the project, then work down the list.
Templates like this one
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5 sections, 8 tasksBugs on a board from first report to a fix someone has checked, with steps to reproduce on every card.
6 sections, 7 tasksA small team's work from backlog to shipped, with a ready column so nobody starts a half-written ticket.
7 sections, 8 tasks
Questions
Run it with the dates filled in.
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