Exploring themes

Individual backlog items tell you what customers want. Themes tell you what those wants add up to. A theme groups related backlog items together, so instead of forty scattered requests you see the handful of storylines running through your feedback.

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The bubble chart

The Themes view opens with a bubble chart. Each bubble is a theme, and bubble size reflects volume - bigger bubble, more going on in that theme. It’s the fastest way to answer “what are customers actually talking about?” at a glance.

The chart includes a timeline comparison between two date windows, so you’re not just seeing what’s big - you’re seeing what’s changing. A theme that was quiet last period and loud this period deserves attention long before it dominates the chart.

💡 Tip: The comparison is where the strategy lives. A mid-sized theme that doubled between windows is often a better use of your next sprint than a big theme that’s been flat for months.

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Automatic and manual themes

You get both:

• Automatic clustering - as feedback arrives, Pilea clusters backlog items into themes on its own. You don’t have to plan a taxonomy up front; the structure emerges from the data.
• Manual control - you can create, rename, and delete themes yourself. If Pilea’s grouping doesn’t match how your team thinks about the product, reshape it.

ℹ️ Note: Automatic clustering and manual curation work together. Pilea proposes the structure; you keep it honest.

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Theme detail pages

Click into any theme to see its detail page, which lists the backlog items inside it. This is your drill-down path: the bubble chart tells you “onboarding is heating up”, and the detail page tells you exactly which items - and therefore which fixes - make up that heat.

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Themes in the backlog

Themes aren’t confined to their own view. In the backlog, you can filter by Theme to see only the items belonging to one. That makes themes a practical planning tool, not just a chart:

1. Spot a growing theme in the bubble chart.
2. Open its detail page to review the items inside.
3. Or jump to the backlog, filter by that Theme, and sort by Priority Score to find the highest-leverage item within it.

That three-step loop - notice the trend, inspect the evidence, pick the work - is the whole point of themes. They turn “we’re hearing a lot about X lately” from a hallway hunch into something you can click on.

Next: Working with mentions