[chandler-users] Chandler as email client?

Wed May 28 09:53:35 PDT 2008

Hi Drew,

I am sorry to hear that Chandler hasn't worked out for you and your  
team. From your brief description below, the workflows and scenarios  
you are trying to do are the kinds of user problems we are committed  
to solving.

That being said, different people have different priorities when it  
comes to what features Chandler needs to have in order to be truly  
useful. You are not the first to say that full support for email is a  
must-have.

Still, we do have users who have made Chandler an integral part of  
their personal and collaborative work. Users who have chosen Chandler  
over other calendar services and wikis. We have been slowly  
publishing these user stories to our blog: http:// 
blog.chandlerproject.org/category/howiusechandler/

The project has a long history and indeed, it had trouble zeroing in  
on a concrete goal for a long while. For the past couple of years  
however, we have continuously narrowed our focus and your paragraph  
description below is a pretty good expression of that focus. The  
"Note-to-Self-Organizer" is our 4-word summary. Nevertheless, it is a  
valuable data point for us that our chosen tagline does not resonate  
with you.

> I need a tool that helps get things done in what is often a fluid  
> environment. Small projects with a couple of tasks spring up and  
> need to be worked all the time - often this requires exchange of  
> emails with individuals that are involved with this one task or  
> project and may not be involved with any others, or not again for  
> some unknown period of time. These 'spontaneous' projects are  
> usually ( always might be an acceptable term here ) wrapped inside  
> some larger project or ongoing effort.

Chandler gets better with every release and we are committed to  
filling in the gaps so that it meets the need of more and more users.  
If you and your team are still interested in understanding how  
Chandler might be better than a wiki, read a few of the user stories  
and see if any of them resonate with how you like to work.

Thanks for giving Chandler a try!

Mimi

On May 27, 2008, at 11:07 AM, Drew Jensen wrote:
> Hi, just my thoughts on this if I may,
>
> I have also been trying to put Chanlder to use, both for myself and  
> as a tool for a couple of small geographically dispersed  
> 'volunteer' teams I take part in.
>
> In the first case, personal use - I can say that I find some use to  
> the triage ( GTD ideas I suppose ) features. Is it enough use to me  
> to keep going with it - not ready to say yes on that point.
>
> In the second - as a collaborative tool, the only way to say it is  
> to say it "It's been a total flop".
>
> First let me say that I don't really need a "note to myself" tool  
> all the much, I need a tool that helps get things done in what is  
> often a fluid environment. Small projects with a couple of tasks  
> spring up and need to be worked all the time - often this requires  
> exchange of emails with individuals that are involved with this one  
> task or project and may not be involved with any others, or not  
> again for some unknown period of time. These 'spontaneous' projects  
> are usually ( always might be an acceptable term here ) wrapped  
> inside some larger project or ongoing effort.
>
> I need to tie both emails and tasks to work product (code, another  
> email for distribution, documentation being developed - things - to  
> use another word ). The note in and of itself is never the focus  
> for me, it is just a link to ( comment about ) the thing that is  
> the focus. With the one exception of when the task is assembling an  
> email that needs to be agreed upon or vetted before being  
> disseminated.
>
> To sum up this point - I need email to be an integral part of this  
> and there is no way I can count on others having chandler desktop  
> and the idea of pushing email by hand or creating dozens of 'one  
> off' filters to do so into an imap folder..isn't going to cut it.
>
> Shared calendar - great job, but currently every one and their  
> brother offers a shared calendar of some kind. I am still looking  
> for what separates this shared calendar from the others.
>
> Collaborating on the items in a Chandler collection  - I have tried  
> to get others in the teams to look at this ( I publish a collection 
> (s) and send them URLs for read/write access ) but the usual  
> response is : How is this better then what we do with a wiki now?  
> Good question actually - what do we gain for what we give up  
> ( versioning for one ).
>
> Let me wrap up this way -
> I really like the UI.
> I like the triage idea of (now, later, done ).
> I appreciate that the team has been flexible
> - BUT -
> I think the flexibility has been allowed to take over and become  
> your undoing to some extent.
>
> For what it is worth my suggestion is simply this - focus!
>
> If being an embodiment of the GTD way of working is it, then go for  
> it - all out.
>
> If it is a 'note to self' tool, then go for that.
>
> Decide how Chandler will do better then other tools available  
> delivering the chosen functions.
>
> ..but please no more of these 'we do tasks', 'no we don't, we do  
> Stars', 'oops we do tasks', we kind of work with your email client  
> or server, but not very closely ... just get together amongst  
> yourselves ( define yourselves in as an expansive fashion as you  
> like ) and decide on what it is you are building - then build it.  
> If it fits what I or others need we will use it - if not - then  
> chances are that if you actually focues on some set of features you  
> will find different user base. There is nothing at all wrong with  
> that, you can't be all things to all people.
>
> Respectfully,
>
> Drew Jensen
>
>
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