[Design] 0.7 Planning (Reframing the issue.)

[Mimi Yin]

Well I guess the question is, do we believe anyone uses iCal on OS X?  
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