Status changed to Future Consideration by
Richard_Broekman
Community Member

Description of Enhancement


When OCLC works on the implementation of an enhancement request, the product team or developer should ask the original submitter of the request for feedback on the proposed implementation. This will make sure the chosen approach actually solves the original problem that prompted the request. It would be even better to post the proposed solution as a reply to the original request, so other users can also comment. Quite often other people support a request and those people may have an opinion about the proposed implementation as well.


Issues Enhancement Will Resolve


Enhancement requests can be tricky to interpret. This can be because the request itself is not clearly defined, or because the product team or a developer think they know what is meant and how to program the feature. This can lead to OCLC thinking it solved a request, but the submitter being disappointed in the way it has been implemented. If OCLC were to contact the submitter and explain how developers plan to build the solution, this might be helpful.

As an example, two requests that have been closed because OCLC thinks an implemented feature (Search by role in Admin) solved an issue (a report of roles).


Current Workaround


Create a new request, explain why it is different from the new/existing functionality (and the associated process of gathering commnity support and waiting for it to be picked up by the product team)

14 Comments
Lauren
Community Member
This would greatly improve enhancement implementation. I've noticed that requests are often misinterpreted, and allowing other users to weigh in during the process would help shape the most useful version of the enhancement, instead of relying entirely on the original request which may not think of all possible iterations. 
Kirsty_Lane
Community Member
Agreed!
Paulien_Berkers
Community Member
Agree
SherriLangton
Community Member
I second the comments from Lauren M.
Jessica_Kruppa
Community Member

Absolutely.

Programmers and Librarians often speak different "languages" and programmers implement something that's logical, but isn't practical for a library setting simply because they aren't experienced in that specific setting. There needs to be more communication through the various implementation steps to ensure that an enhancement is going the right direction... otherwise the programmers spend all this time making A when the Librarians actually needed F.

Jennifer_M
Community Member
Also agreed. I've started and commented on enhancement requests where the development team responds, "We implemented this to address your issue!" and I'm left sitting there thinking, "But that didn't actually solve the problem I was talking about..."
Ilka_vd_Kruk
Community Member
Agreed, makes sense.
Candace_Lebel
Community Member
Yes please!  More communication is better than less.
Brandon_Martin
Community Member
Completely agree. I've seen requests come and go with "resolutions" that didn't really address the true issue at hand, and a more collaborative approach with the requestor would be very welcome.
Janelle_M__Bitter
Community Member
Any way to increase transparency would be a huge plus! Do submitters of enhancements even get notified when they request has been added to an update, or is that something we would have to monitor ourselves?