What is a feature audit?
Definition: A feature audit is a process of evaluating and analyzing the features of a product or service in order to identify areas for improvement or to make informed decisions about the direction of future development.
A feature audit's primary aim is to provide insights into a product's feature usage.
It includes a review of the current features, functionality of the product or service and an assessment of how well those features meet the needs and expectations of the users.
A feature audit aims to identify opportunities to optimize and improve the product or service and to identify any unnecessary or underused features that can be removed or streamlined.
For example, when building a minimum viable product, a product manager uses a feature audit to evaluate how much users care about the flagship features to help product leads or product teams in general decide how to improve or remove a feature.
Example of a feature audit
Here is an example of how a feature audit might be conducted for a software application:
- Define the scope of the audit: Identifying the features that will be included in the audit, the target audience, and any specific goals or objectives for the audit.
- Gather data: Gather data about the current features of the software application by reviewing documentation and user manuals, analyzing usage data and user feedback, and conducting user interviews and surveys.
- Analyze the data: Identify common problems or pain points that users experience when using the software and areas where users feel the software lacks functionality.
- Identify opportunities for improvement: This might include adding new features to address user needs, streamlining existing features to make them more efficient, or removing unnecessary or underused features.
- Develop a plan of action: Prioritizing the most important changes, setting timelines and milestones, and assigning responsibilities to different team members.
- Implement the changes: Updating the software application, conducting additional user testing and gathering feedback, and making any necessary adjustments to the changes based on user feedback.
When should a feature audit be conducted?
Feature audits are performed when:
- Alpha Testing a minimum viable product
- Launching a new product or service
- Updating an existing product or service
- Conducting market research
- Facing competitive pressure
