Topic Score — Choosing What to Write Next
Your research list now holds 23 topic ideas, gathered from tickets, forums, keyword data and engineers' requests. You can write perhaps four this month. Left to gut feeling, you would pick the most interesting ones. A topic score helps you pick the most useful ones, and explain why to anyone who asks.
The rule
Score every idea on the same factors, then write from the top.
A topic score is a small rubric applied to every idea in the same way. Teams build their own; here is a simple one with three factors, each scored from 1 to 3:
- Demand: evidence that people need it, such as ticket counts, how often it recurs in communities, and search volume.
- Fit: how closely it relates to the product and to the personas you serve.
- Gap: 3 if no good answer exists anywhere; 1 if a good answer already exists, perhaps even your own.
Add the three for a total out of 9. Write the highest first. When two ideas tie, the one that takes less effort goes first.
| Topic idea | Demand | Fit | Gap | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alerts are not arriving | 3: 46 tickets | 3: core feature | 3: no page anywhere | 9 |
| Site shows as down but loads fine | 3: 31 tickets, rising searches | 3: core feature | 2: scattered, outdated forum answers | 8 |
| Status pages for small businesses | 2: steady searches | 3: product feature | 1: many good guides exist | 6 |
| History of uptime monitoring | 1: almost no signal | 1: loosely related | 2: few good accounts | 4 |
Teams often adapt the rubric: doubling demand, adding a "business priority" factor, or scoring from 1 to 5. That is fine. What matters is that every idea is scored the same way, with the evidence written down.
The shortcut
Evidence beside every number. Never write a score without the fact that justifies it. Then add, sort and start at the top.
Demand
Nine tickets last month and modest search volume: 2.
The trap is treating the score as an oracle. It makes decisions consistent and open to discussion; it does not replace judgement. When a launch or an urgent request overrides the ranking, say so openly instead of bending the numbers.
Drills
Answer fast — trust the rule.
An idea scores Demand 2, Fit 3 and Gap 1. What is its total?
Two ideas both total 8. How does this rubric decide which comes first?
What does a Gap score of 1 mean?
Why write the evidence beside each score?
"History of uptime monitoring" scores 4, but the CEO wants it for a conference talk next week. What is the best way to handle it?
Remember
- Score every idea on the same factors, then write from the top.
- Shortcut: evidence beside every number, then add, sort and break ties by effort.
- Trap: treating the score as an oracle, or bending numbers to match a decision.