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# How we decide what to build next
- URL: https://launch.ghostcms.templates.codememory.com/how-we-decide-what-to-build-next/
- Published: 2026-05-25T14:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-05-25T14:00:00.000Z
- Description: Sixty requests a week and room for two features a month. Four questions, five calls and a lot of “not yet”.
- Author: Maya Chen
- Tags: Company, #Import 2026-10-02 15:41

Every week, Tally receives about sixty feature requests. We can build perhaps two features a month. That means saying no, or "not yet", to almost everything. This post explains how we decide what to build next, so customers know what happens to their ideas.

![Every request is written down, tagged and counted. Nothing is lost, even if it waits.](https://launch.ghostcms.templates.codememory.com/content/images/2026/10/dec-notes.jpg)

Every request is written down, tagged and counted. Nothing is lost, even if it waits.

## Every request is recorded

When a customer asks for something, in a support chat, a call or an email, the person who hears it records it in one shared list. We record the problem, not just the feature. "Add a PDF export" becomes "needs to share a chart with a manager who does not use Tally". The problem is often more useful than the suggestion.

The list has about four thousand entries. Each one links to the customers who asked, so we can write to them when something ships.

## Four questions

Once a month, we look at the top of the list and ask four questions about each candidate.

1. **How many teams have this problem?** We count teams, not requests. One loud customer asking ten times counts once.
2. **How painful is it?** A missing feature that blocks someone's work counts more than one that would be nice.
3. **Does it fit what Tally is for?** We build analytics for small teams. Some good ideas belong in a different product.
4. **How much will it cost to build and keep?** Every feature has to be maintained for years.

## Talking to people

Before we build anything big, we talk to at least five customers who asked for it. We show them a rough sketch and ask them to walk us through how they would use it. Half the time, the sketch changes completely. Once, we learned that the feature was not needed at all: a better default solved the problem.

> The customer is always right about the problem. They are often wrong about the solution, and so are we.  
>  
> **Tom Becker**

![A thirty-minute call with a customer saves weeks of building the wrong thing.](https://launch.ghostcms.templates.codememory.com/content/images/2026/10/dec-call.jpg)

A thirty-minute call with a customer saves weeks of building the wrong thing.

## Saying no

Saying no is the hardest part. We try to do it well: quickly, with a reason and, when possible, with a workaround. When something is "not yet", we say so, and we do not promise a date.

## What is next

Our public roadmap shows what we are working on now and what we plan to do next. It does not show dates. Things move, and a roadmap with dates becomes a list of broken promises.

🗳️

Want to suggest something? Use the "Request a feature" button in Tally's help menu. A person reads every one.

#### Can I vote on features?

Not directly. Your request adds your team to the count, which is the same thing without the popularity contest.

#### Will you tell me when my idea ships?

Yes. We write to every team linked to the request.