Feedback Synthesis

Turn user noise into actionable insights.

What This Skill Does

Aggregates feedback from multiple sources, identifies themes and patterns, categorizes by severity and frequency, and synthesizes into actionable insights. Makes sense of scattered user input.

When to Use

Activate this skill when:

• User needs to analyze feedback from any source
• Phrases like "analyze feedback", "what are users saying", "synthesize feedback"
• Reviewing feedback for planning or prioritization
• Understanding user sentiment and themes
• User says "what do users think" or "feedback analysis"

How It Works

The synthesis process ensures comprehensive feedback understanding:

1. Collect feedback - Gather from all sources
2. Deduplicate - Remove duplicates and merge related
3. Categorize - Group by theme, type, severity
4. Quantify - Count frequency, measure sentiment
5. Prioritize - Rank by impact and urgency
6. Synthesize - Generate insights and recommendations

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
sources	list	No	Feedback sources (default: all available)
timeframe	string	No	Period to analyze (default: "last 30 days")
focus	string	No	Specific feature or area to focus on

Feedback Sources

Source	Type	What It Provides
Support tickets	Structured	Detailed issues, urgent problems
App reviews	Public	Overall sentiment, common complaints
User interviews	Qualitative	Deep insights, nuanced feedback
Surveys	Structured	Quantifiable satisfaction, NPS
In-app feedback	Contextual	Real-time, situation-specific
Social media	Public	Brand perception, common requests
Sales/CS notes	Filtered	Prospect/customer requests

Output Structure

The skill generates synthesis outputs:

1. Feedback summary - High-level overview of themes
2. Categorized items - Feedback grouped by type
3. Prioritized list - Ranked for action
4. Sentiment analysis - Overall user sentiment trends

Feedback Summary Format

# User Feedback Synthesis
**Period**: [Start] - [End]
**Total Feedback Items**: [Number]
**Primary Sources**: [List]

## Executive Summary

### Overall Sentiment
| Metric | Value | Change from Previous |
|:-------|:-----|:----------------------|
| Overall Sentiment | 🟢 Positive / 🟡 Neutral / 🔴 Negative | [Change] |
| NPS Score | [Score] | [+/- X] |
| Satisfaction | [Score]/5 | [+/- X] |
| Total Feedback | [Count] | [+/- X] |

### Top Themes This Period
1. **[Theme 1]** - [Count] mentions, [trend]
2. **[Theme 2]** - [Count] mentions, [trend]
3. **[Theme 3]** - [Count] mentions, [trend]

## Categorized Feedback

### Bugs & Issues
| Issue | Count | Severity | Trend | Status |
|:------|:-----|:--------|:------|:--------|
| [Bug description] | 25 | High | ↗ Increasing | 🔄 Investigating |
| [Bug description] | 12 | Medium | → Stable | ✅ Fixed |
| [Bug description] | 8 | Low | ↘ Decreasing | 📋 Backlog |

**Total bugs**: 45 | **High severity**: 15

### Feature Requests
| Request | Count | Priority | Segment | Estimate |
|:--------|:-----|:---------|:--------|:---------|
| [Feature request] | 38 | P0 | Enterprise | 2 weeks |
| [Feature request] | 24 | P1 | SMB | 1 week |
| [Feature request] | 19 | P2 | All | 3 days |

**Total requests**: 81 | **Top 3 account for 45% of volume

### UX & Usability
| Issue | Count | Impact | Location | Fix |
|:------|:-----|:-------|:---------|:----|
| [UX problem] | 32 | High | Onboarding | Quick |
| [UX problem] | 21 | Medium | Settings | Moderate |
| [UX problem] | 15 | Low | Dashboard | Complex |

**Total UX issues**: 68

### Performance & Reliability
| Issue | Count | Severity | Trend |
|:------|:-----|:--------|:------|
| [Performance issue] | 18 | Medium | ↘ Improving |
| [Performance issue] | 9 | High | → Stable |
| [Performance issue] | 5 | Low | → Stable |

### Praise & Positive Feedback
| Theme | Count | Representative Quote |
|:------|:-----|:---------------------|
| [Positive theme] | 24 | "Love how easy this is!" |
| [Positive theme] | 18 | "Finally, a feature that works" |
| [Positive theme] | 12 | "Customer support is amazing" |

**Positive mentions**: 54 (35% of total feedback)

## Detailed Analysis

### Top Issues (by Impact)

#### 1. [Issue Title]
**Volume**: 28 mentions | **Severity**: High | **Trend**: ↗ Increasing

**User Quotes**:
> "I can't complete my workflow because..."
> — Enterprise customer, 2 days ago

> "This is blocking our team from..."
> — Power user, 1 week ago

**Impact**: Affecting [X]% of users, causing [Y] churn

**Recommended Action**: [Action plan]
**Priority**: P0 | **Effort**: [Estimate]

#### 2. [Issue Title]
**Volume**: 22 mentions | **Severity**: Medium | **Trend**: → Stable

[Same structure as above]

### Top Feature Requests

| Request | Count | Revenue Impact | Strategic Value | Combined Priority |
|:--------|:-----|:---------------|:----------------|:-----------------|
| [Request A] | 38 | High ($50K ARR) | High | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| [Request B] | 24 | Medium ($20K ARR) | High | ⭐⭐ |
| [Request C] | 19 | High ($40K ARR) | Low | ⭐⭐ |

### Sentiment by Segment

| Segment | Sentiment | Top Request | Top Complaint |
|:--------|:---------|:------------|:--------------|
| Enterprise | 🟢 Positive (4.5/5) | SSO integration | Missing reports |
| SMB | 🟡 Neutral (3.8/5) | Lower pricing | Complex setup |
| Free | 🔴 Negative (3.2/5) | More free features | Too many limits |

### Sentiment Trend

Week 1 |████████| 4.2/5 - Mostly Positive Week 2 |███████| 3.9/5 - Slight Decline Week 3 |██████| 3.7/5 - Quality Issue? Week 4 |█████████| 4.3/5 - Recovery After Fix

**Key Event**: [Explanation of notable changes]

## Recommendations

### Immediate (This Week)
1. **Fix blocking bug**: [Bug] affecting [X] users
2. **Address top complaint**: [Complaint] with [Y] mentions
3. **Acknowledge feedback**: Respond to [Z] pending items

### Short-term (This Month)
1. **Implement quick win**: [Feature] requested by [X] users
2. **Improve onboarding**: [Y]% drop off at step [Z]
3. **Address performance**: [Performance issue]

### Long-term (This Quarter)
1. **Evaluate strategic request**: [Feature] with revenue impact
2. **UX improvements**: [Top UX issues] grouped
3. **Proactive outreach**: [Segment] showing declining sentiment

## Feedback Loop Actions

This analysis triggers the following actions:
- **New high-severity bugs** → Engineering escalation
- **Common feature requests** → Consider for `/prioritization`
- **Declining sentiment trend** → Activate `/user-research`
- **UX patterns** → Update design system

## Appendices

### Source Breakdown
| Source | Items | % of Total | Primary Themes |
|:--------|:-----|:----------|:---------------|
| Support tickets | 95 | 40% | Bugs, how-to |
| App reviews | 62 | 26% | Features, UX |
| In-app feedback | 42 | 18% | UX, bugs |
| User interviews | 24 | 10% | Deep insights |
| Social media | 16 | 6% | Brand, requests |

### Methodology
- **Deduplication**: Items merged if similar intent + same source area
- **Severity**: Based on user impact, not volume
- **Trend**: Compared to previous period (last 30 days)
- **Sentiment**: Calculated from coded feedback (positive/neutral/negative)

Feedback Categories

Category	Subtypes	Example
Bugs	Broken, error, crash	"App crashes when I click save"
Features	Request, enhancement	"Would love to see X feature"
UX	Confusing, hard to use	"Can't find how to do X"
Performance	Slow, laggy	"Takes too long to load"
Praise	Compliment, love	"This is amazing!"
Pricing	Expensive, confused	"Too expensive for what I get"

Quality Standards

Before delivering, ensure synthesis:

• Covers all feedback sources
• Removes duplicates appropriately
• Quantifies frequency and severity
• Identifies trends, not just snapshots
• Provides actionable recommendations
• Triggers appropriate feedback loops

Collaboration Modes

Mode	How It Works
autopilot	Aggregates, categorizes, synthesizes automatically
copilot	Drafts analysis, validates themes with you
manual	Provides templates, you complete analysis

Context Integration

Reads:

• context/release-plan.md - Release scope to categorize feedback
• context/impact-analysis.json - Combine quantitative and qualitative

Writes:

• context/feedback-synthesis.json - Structured synthesis data
• context/feedback-reports/[period].md - Full synthesis report

Read By:

• iteration-planning - Uses feedback for planning
• prioritization - Incorporates requests into prioritization
• user-research - Identifies areas needing deeper research

Example Usage

User: "What are users saying about the new feature?"
→ Synthesizes feedback specifically about that feature

User: "Analyze all feedback from last month"
→ Generates comprehensive synthesis report

User: "What are the top complaints?"
→ Summarizes highest-volume negative feedback

Best Practices

1. Look for patterns - One-off vs. systemic
2. Read the quotes - Numbers don't tell the whole story
3. Segment users - Different users have different needs
4. Track trends - Is it getting better or worse?
5. Close the loop - Let users know their feedback matters