[Design] 0.7 Planning (Reframing the issue.)

[Mitchell Kapor]

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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