A new experimental Windows initiative from Microsoft, known as "Cohorts," focuses on how the company handles feedback from the Windows Insider Program. Cohorts are groups of people with a common passion, characteristic, or area of expertise. Microsoft hopes these highly-focused groups will help bring fresh insights into how existing Windows 10 features are used, while offering a higher quality of relevant, real-world feedback to inform decisions on introducing new features to the OS.

How Windows Insider Cohorts are expected to work

Speaking exclusively with Windows Central, Insider Program chief Dona Sarkar explained that the decision to try out this new approach was part of a broader review of the program, including how feedback is processed. "Feedback generally comes in two forms," she said. "There's 'this is broken, fix it'; and 'we don't have this, build it." That feedback isn't always valuable, though.

Cohorts aren't meant to replace the existing feedback systems but complement them.

While complaints about what needs to be fixed can usually be tracked through telemetry Microsoft receives through Windows 10 preview builds, Insiders often demand features that they don't really need. Meanwhile, features that would genuinely be of use aren't always communicated to Microsoft, as those users may not be well represented in the Insider community – especially among those who actually take the time to send feedback.

For example, if Microsoft is looking for feedback on using a pen to write or draw at various angles in Windows 10, it can only rely on a limited subset of users who own devices with pen support, who are Insiders, and who actually use pens on their devices. Even then, those pen-toting Insiders may not test the full range of pen-focused features available, or submit feedback on all of them.

"People who make massive use of pen and ink on Windows 10, they're the people we need feedback from in that scenario," Sarkar explained. "So instead of just general feedback, what if we focused on getting feedback from creatives that really push the envelope with pen and ink? They're the ones who are going to be using it every day, right?"

Cohorts help dig up additional insight