Overview
A product I worked on had data tables without built-in sorting. This made everyday use harder for Customer Success Managers, but adding the capability through the core engineering roadmap would take time.
I used Cursor to build Table Turner, a Chrome extension that adds sorting to web tables on demand. It improved the immediate CSM experience and created a working proof of concept for a future product direction.
The product gap
Useful data, fixed in place
The tables already contained the information people needed, but the interface offered no way to reorder it. A native feature was not immediately available, so the question became whether a lightweight utility could close the usability gap and demonstrate the value of sorting in a real workflow.
The approach
A lightweight path to validation
Instead of treating the constraint as a reason to wait, I built a browser extension that could introduce the missing capability without changing the product itself. That made the idea tangible and usable while keeping the experiment small.
- 01Enable sorting on demand
People can turn sorting on only when they need it.
- 02Keep the control obvious
A compact popup exposes one toggle and a refresh action.
- 03Test value before native investment
The extension acts as a functional proof of concept for the product team.
Reflection
A prototype is stronger when people can use it
The most valuable part of the project was turning a known limitation into a small, functioning product. It created immediate utility and gave a future native capability a concrete reference instead of leaving it as an abstract request.