Sorry, let me rephrase this question, I think it came off kind of
weird. It's not that I don't believe people use iCal, I do, everyone
in the Hello Kitty suite does.
My question was more to point out that we shouldn't worry too much
about needing to build out super-robust functional features to
support scheduling end-to-end a la Exchange and Outlook. iCal has
lots of users who are very happy with it and highly dependent on it,
without these features.
Something else to consider is that the conventional scheduling and
invitation workflow of:
1. Viewing free-busy
2. Selecting a time
3. Sending out an invitation
4. Keeping track of acceptances, tentative acceptances and declines
Was designed for a highly structured corporate environment where
there were assumptions about when people showed up to work and when
they left.
Our users for 0.7 and the scenarios we've been discussing (ie. spouse-
sharing, small working groups, sole proprietorships) are a different
beast altogether, so traditional assumptions about what's need for
scheduling and invitations don't necessarily apply.
ie. Some people feel offended by other's just picking a time. they
would prefer some kind of conversation to happen first before a
formal time is sent out. In that case, a conversation attached to an
event that has NO date/time information would be a more appropriate
way to present the workflow.
Given that, can we take an iterative approach to this issue, build
out some low-cost features that hint in the direction of fully
integrated scheduling workflows (ie. just be able to view free-busy,
but not be able to select a time, send out an email ping from
chandler, but not actually send out an event or be able to manage
acceptances and declines.)
I think even such small things could dramatically enhance the
calendaring experience and leave us wiggle room to figure out what
the next steps are based on user behavior.
Mimi
On Dec 2, 2005, at 2:14 PM, Mitchell Kapor wrote:
On Dec 2, 2005, at 12:52 PM, Mimi Yin wrote:
Well I guess the question is, do we believe anyone uses iCal on OS X?
I do. Esther does. We really depend on it.
Does iCal provide enough features for calendar use on Mac? Given
that, would it be safe to assume that Chandler, being cross-
platform and providing read-write sharing would be just as if not
more useful?
As for a lack of data, we're always going to have a lack of data
for many of our scenarios, precisely because they haven't been
possible until now. But that doesn't mean there is no basis for
the scenarios themselves. You can go a long way to figuring out
likely scenarios through brainstorming and analysis of anecdotal
research. Design is after all a soft science.
On Dec 2, 2005, at 12:07 PM, Philippe Bossut wrote:
Mimi Yin wrote:
To put it another way, can we imagine that there are users out
there who could use Chandler in ways that wouldn't require free-
busy? pda sync? invitations?
The antidote to unknown is data and data come from research. If
research is impossible (too expensive, no time,...), you've no
choice but relying on gutt (or intuition).
So I'm a little warry when too much is hinging on scenarios built
ad-hoc and lives of unknown people we just imagine. I certainly
can imagine scenarios that require none or all of the here above
mentioned features but what would that bring to the decision
making process? It's intuition parading as data. It might help me
make a point more convincingly but, that's about it. Should the
most creative writer around get an edge in the decision? May be...
"Q: What's the plural of 'anecdote'?... A: Data!"
Short of launching a full blown market research, gathering
experiences, even from the people of this list (a self selected
bunch for sure...) can help. We've already heard some anecdotal
evidence of PDA use and specific scenarios on this list and it
was all extremelly informative (to me at least). So, bring it on,
even if (or more to the point) especially if you're a new comer
to this list.
That was original theory at the end of 0.5, that the bar was
much lower for calendar and that by just doing iCal for PC, we
would get users.
... and we might: after all, we haven't officially released 0.6
yet... :)
Cheers,
- Philippe
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