Link Canvas Support to Engineers

[JVC1]

I recommend that Instructure develops a way for the support team to submit feature requests directly to engineers. Customers shouldn't have to do this work; we've already explained the issue to Canvas Support and we're not Instructure employees.

I've contacted Canvas Support twice about missing features, and have been told that I have to join the Instructure "community" to make my feature request.

[scottdennis]

Hi @JVC1,

How to process feedback from customers on what features we should build next or how to improve existing features is a topic we have thought a lot about over the years.  One question that comes up periodically is how best to handle feedback that comes in via our support team interactions with clients.  As you correctly state, Canvas users are not Instructure employees and often do a more than adequate job of explaining their reasoning for which features should be prioritized or modified in their support tickets or calls.  The reason we ask people to copy that feedback over to the community feature forums has several main drivers.  First, with feedback that comes in via chat or voice calls, support agents often do not have the background to fully understand the use cases and experiences of clients who use Canvas is a variety of educational environments and are left playing the 'telephone game' in relaying what they are told.  Oftentimes, when our product teams get feedback from customers, they have follow up questions, or more often go looking for clients who are already talking about a given feature or pain point when they are working on that area of Canvas.  Also, we often find that when clients share feedback in a public forum, conversations and debates will ensue, sometimes with people having differing opinions or ideas.  We also try not to duplicate sources of feedback for our product managers and engineers (more on that in the 'How do Idea Conversations Work' sidebar).  For Support specifically, our teams try to identify when Canvas is not working as intended, who is being affected, how, and to what severity.  Sometimes we will get feedback across the board with Support, customer success managers, and Community all providing feedback that can be viewed collectively, hopefully helping our teams to alleviate the issue quickly and effectively.

I hope this helps you understand our reasoning.  We do hear you and consider your suggestions.  If you have additional suggestions or concerns, please let us know.

Scott Dennis
Sr Dir, Community & Support