How happy are we with feature request and bug handling at Articulate?
Mar 07, 2023
It would be great to get some community feedback on how happy people are with the Storyline360 product, especially when it comes to bug fixing and feature releases.
I've been getting more and more frustrated lately with the ridiculously slow resolution to bugs. It's not unusual to see forum posts outlining issues with the software, originally posted 2 years ago, and with posts days old reporting the same issue as part of the discussion.
I had a personal experience recently. I received an email informing me a bug had been resolved. I was excited, as I'd just reported a bug that month. However, on reading the email, it was a bug that had been reported 2 years ago.
Is 2 years an acceptable turnaround time for a bug to be resolved? In that time there had been multiple patches, updates etc. Some great enhancements, but they didn't see fit to fix a bug for a couple of years. I'd forgotten about it, and obviously been working around it subconsciously.
I think Storyline is a good product for certain tasks, but the transparency in regards to how issues and feature requests are handled isn't good. We as a community cannot see existing bugs that have been reported and accepted as bugs (not surprised if they are 2 years in the fixing) or how the feature requests are handled.
Do we need user group representation to apply more pressure to the people at Storyline making the decisions? I think the current process doesn't support the users of the software very well. The lack of transparency puts us in a position where we have to assume, "maybe I'm the only one who feels this way" when looking at some of the comments on the forum say otherwise.
Thanks for reading if you got this far, but would be great to hear from others what their experience has been (good & bad).
37 Replies
Hi Kerry, good to see an Articulate rep on this thread.
As others have mentioned, this isn't a new problem and something we've been dealing with for years. I had a look through the forums recently just to look through examples of the frustrations I was feeling to make sure I wasn't alone. Nope, this has been going on for a long time. I've joked in the past that I think Articulate have one developer working on Storyline. It really does feel like that. I saw your email and am keen to meet and talk through some of the frustrations we feel with our interactions with support, such as the stock standard "That's a great suggestion, we recommend submitting a feature request". People stop doing that when they don't feel they are being listened to. Whether this is the case or not, it always feels that feature requests and bug reports are not publicly available for a reason. It means the users have less power to hold Articulate accountable.
For example, I can submit bug reports and feature requests and as an account holder, I have no record of those, other than an email response. In my account, I should be able to view the feature requests and bug reports I've submitted.
It would be to see publicly feature requests, so that users can give them an upvote, This is all done via the forums at the moment with people just chiming in with a "+1". It would be great to see some of these things make it in to the roadmap too.
Also, recognised bugs need to be available publicly listed so we don't waste time in the forums and can first review if a big has been acknowledged and when a patch is likely to be released so we can communicate this to clients.
I put a tongue in cheek video together recently to entertain myself and also illustrate a common experience on the forums. I hope you can appreciate the funny side to this, but also the bang your head against the table frustration too.
Look forward to catching up.
Thanks for the ideas Sam. We’ve got multiple talented crews of engineers working on Storyline and we are committed to its success.
I like your idea of including feature requests and bug reports in your profile, plus adding feature upvotes. But today that would mean diverting engineers from working on the feature requests and bug fixes that help the community build courses. So we’re not prioritizing that at this time. More community features will be planned for the second half of the year so we should be able to give guidance then (instead of unhelpful vague platitudes).
The feedback I hear though is you are looking for more transparency on what’s coming, what’s not working, how we prioritize, and want to make sure we don’t have just one engineer working alone in a cave with no friends deciding on random things to work on. Got it.
By the way, the video seems to be private.
Here is to head banging together in 2023. Looking forward to meeting you.
Wow. Tumbleweeds even? Got it. Rolling up my sleeves and getting to work!
Matthew,
Man, why don't you tell us how you really feel? Instead of beating around the bush? (Or whatever the appropriate idiom is.) :)
Hey Matt, Understood. I didn't mean to imply I was asking for consulting. I thought you'd like to be included in the conversation for transparency but I understand I was wrong.
Thank you for the impact you had on a lot of the accessibility work the team did last year. Your feedback helped.
Sam, Thanks for the video. I really enjoyed it and the music.
I too have come to the conclusion that requests for "features" are a waste of time because they're ignored.
As far as bugs go, I get emails every time someone posts to the forum. Whenever a bug is mentioned/acknowledged by multiple people including SL staff, I drag it to a separate Outlook folder (SL Bugs) so I can find it again.
One pet peeve of mine is when SL asks to take the issue offline. Other users no longer learn whether a bug was confirmed, or not.
At my company we never update to the latest release (always has too many bugs) and often wait 6 months or more to upgrade when the software is hopefully more stable.
It's sad but that advice is sound and most professional companies i worked for or with advice that too.
Nevertheless i am inclined to give both Articulate and Kerry the benefit of the doubt and let us see if they can improve on it.
I would be happy with 1 upgrade per half year or year if it was 100% bugfree and new features would be really properly tested and indeed improvements.
Hey Community members,
I just want to inform you all that we’ve deleted all of Matthew Bibby’s posts at his request and in line with our community guidelines. I am saddened that he no longer wishes to be a part of the community.
I appreciate all of your feedback and hear your frustrations. We are committed to doing better and I want to partner with all of you to make that happen. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with you all.
Kerry
I understand the sound reason to take offline so that the communication can be more efficient and direct, but I think Maura is talking more about the loss of transparency for everybody else tracking the same issue. I think taking out of the forum is fine, as long as people can still a) find out whether the issue is a bug, and b) track the progress of a fix if it is a bug. We are frequently in a position where we cannot communicate this to our clients. If we're frustrated, our clients are frustrated too. We just need to have a certain level of trust that issues are looked at in a timely manner.
Absolutely. The various ancient "/solved" web forum entries from half a decade ago are sometimes the most valuable source for almost any PC problems. Documenting past problems and solutions is extremely helpful for future use.
An archive for old entries might be a good solution.
Hey Team,
We put Storyline under a microscope based on your feedback and are making a number of changes to focus on quality first, transparency, and proactive communication. I appreciate all the feedback you shared and for giving me the opportunity to dive in and learn.
Please take a look at my update here about what we discovered and what we are changing. We'll be making monthly updates on the State of Storyline to keep you up to date.
With deep appreciation,
Kerry.
Thanks for the update Kerry. Look forward to seeing these changes in action and also good to feel listened to.