This is a very common use case. We have seen multiple companies achieve this with different methods. Here is one of them (which is actually GroupCamp’s way of working).
We use different online projects for New Feature Requests and Product Roadmap.
In the New Feature Requests section, we use task lists to describe new domains or an actual application. For example ‘GroupCamp Mobile is a task list and ‘New Features for Discussions’ is another. We then have reviews based on the task list and once we decide on a new feature and the way to design it, it will move into the Product Roadmap project which is the actual committed track for our products. We use the import feature to move tasks from one project to another.
Allowing users to enter new ideas makes it easier for an idea to progress in maturity by relying on the online collaboration of every team member. Every member can comment on the idea by replying directly to email notifications. In the Product Roadmap, we use the task lists to describe the workload for a particular quarter. You can use ‘types in tasks to set priorities or release dates. When entering tasks corresponding to new ideas, project members can enter the estimated time for the task.
During the reviews of the product team we then decide on the new priorities to be set on every task. One important aspect we use in making go/no-go decisions is the total estimated time for every task list. The total amount of estimated time is also available for each task type which is often the priority level. In the task application, when an ideas gains traction, you can assign the task and have an estimation on the total workload per user.
