Notes: 0.7 Dashboard - June 13th 2006

Please read the Dashboard Spec to have context on the meeting notes below.

Agenda

• Capture high-level questions about the Spec
• Review the Spec, capturing questions along the way
• Discussion questions, capture questions that need further discussion
• Summarize discussions with Phasing options
• Next actions

Next Actions

1. Update/clarify in spec
2. Compile the questions and reply/discuss them on the list.
3. What is a good compromise of staging for alpha 4?

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Based on the 0.7 Dashboard Spec:

What is a Dashboard?

The Dashboard is in part, inspired by GTD methodology and many of David Allen's insights into the problems with the ways in which people process information and get too easily sidetracked from important tasks in today's interruption-prone information workplaces.

The Dashboard is:

• Where the user makes minute-by-minute decisions about what to do with new information; and
• Where the user makes minute-by-minute decisions about what they need to deal with RIGHT NOW; and
• How the user stays focused on the things they need to deal with RIGHT NOW.

A user-defined collection dashboard view is where the user can back away a little from the immediacy of RIGHT NOW and review projects and areas of responsibility from a longer distance. The dashboard view of user-defined collections allows users to:

• Get an immediate, high-level overview of the status of a project or area of responsibility
• Process new information
• Manage the focus of the project or area of responsibility

Dashboard & dashboard view

• GTD methodology
• How users have found ways to hack the software tools they have today in order to meet their specific needs.
• The closest thing users have to a Dashboard today is their email client Inbox.

Motivation on using the dashboard

• Review projects
• Project planning
• Task management
• Schedule meetings

Why do we need both a dashboard and a dashboard views of user-defined collections?

• Project plan in sync with the daily grind of processing new, incoming information

What is the user problem the Dashboard is trying to solve?

• Minute by minute decisions - helps users maintain 'honest' Project plans that reflect the minute-minute Triage decisions they make in their Dashboards
• 'in box' as the universal
• in-bound messages
• Filing out of inbox -->out of sight out of mind.
• Can't organize until you're completely done with them
• Great place to start e-mail, not a great place to end up.
• You don't really know what it (the item inside the email) is, it's just something that isn't finished.
• Most information arrives by e-mail
• E-mail is a semantic

Central workflow issues that the Dashboard need to address

1. Users need a semantic free collection box for 'things they need to keep track of' and 'new things that they still need to process in order to decide if they need to keep track of them or not'.
2. Over time, as users make progress on any particular piece of information, they need to be able to record the knowledge they've gained and decisions they've made, iteratively, aka add semantics. (e.g. This is a task, This belongs on my calendar, This belongs on my calendar for next week, This belongs on my calendar for next Monday at 2PM, This is a task that Terry needs to do.)
3. Users need a better way to manage their focus. e.g. 'Things to keep track of' need to be sub-divided into at the very least: 'Things I need to keep track of right now' versus 'Things I need to keep track of for later.'
4. Users need to set automatic ways to re-focus their attention on information.
5. Organizing needs to be separated from Archiving.

Question

• Is this dependent on getting e-mail working?
• Ted -->Manually inputs data-->GTD-esque system

Use Case

• Get stuff out of my face to stay focused - triage and ticklers
• Right context in the right time
• Organize content so i can find it later
• Good example: App pushes the application at the right time, and the user needs to pull it

Skip over Alpha 2 (getting basic table, header, separate stamp column-no details on font etc.) section Basic table

Alpha 4 Continue work on the Dashboard by adding some finishing touches to the basic table functionality that fell out of Alpha 2 and introduces Triage status and custom-date Ticklers for all Items, not just Calendar events. Much of the work we need to do to get a basic Dashboard up and running center around the Stamping work-flows.

Question

• Not spread sheet like keyboard navigation Mark as an issue

• Eventually multi-select and DnD table etc.
• Is this hard to do?

Sort

• We need to extend support for sort to include the Task, Communication status and Reminder columns.

Clickable task

Question

• Some stuff isn't in Alpha 2 Update spec. to cut out non-Alpha 2 stuff from Alpha 2 Mark as an issue

• Task-->stamping
• Communication-->email/event stamp column is now event status/tickler column
• Reminder --> event --> reminder

Search

• Integrate search --> Need UI
• tool bar go to search spec for more details.

Question

• Other changes to search? Test search? Temporary call for now?

Multi select Drag n drop

• The user should be able to multi-select table items and drag them to the Trash or into another collection

Ticklers

• Custom-date alarms for any Kind of Item. When the Tickler alarm goes off, the Item's Triage status is set to NOW.

Triage status

• The ability to set Triage status from both the table view column and the detail view mark-up bar

What displays in what column

• Stamping spec
• Which attribute is displayed in which column needs to be determined by context.

Navigating to dashboard

• Change all of the 'my collection' to 'dashboard'

Questions

• Dashboard view in calendar as a table? Why?
• keep out of my dashboard = not mine - keep out of my items

Columns tasks

• task list vs. not on task list

• different states for stamped/unstamped - Roll Over, Mouse Down, Mouse Down, Mouse-off
• different (flavors) of task
• errand
• read write up

Triage Status * TS = second day sort

Mail and communication status columns ≠ stamp

• un-read (. - icon)
• read (ø - icon)
• needs reply (return arrow icon)

Click on an item row

Question

• Does clicking on the icon to apply multi select? click on icon? Click on something on the table that applies to something on the table.
• All the various states the communication icon
• read, un-read and needs reply--> 14 various sub flavors
• in, out, update, draft, queued, error, none etc.

Question

• How will users understand the icons?
• The who column is to help with the communication status column

Question

• How to make the sharing email less confusing?
• There seems to be a lot of icons-->perhaps to have a better descriptive tool tips?
• Will users under stand these states? These states exist, do you want to show people? How much UI to allocate to the states?
• How to distinguish between: in/out, draft, etc. 42 states

• The user never interacts with the 42 states
• Draft vs. send/received-ness --> what is a drafted -->addressed but ø sent
• First time vs. Update
• Edited but ø sent

Reminder Column

• Adds a custom-tickler-date
• Remove a custom ticker date
• Two columns: Reminder and date column
• ((.)) and EOD
• x and Tomorrow

Triage status

• Applies to everything
• Read and unread

Question

• Not separate new from now. We should try it? It has been discussed on the list, and it's important to get it out there for now. New item is read.

Sort by TX out B

• Explicitly set Triage Status : Table & Drag Select
• Separated by color Green=Now, Yellow=Later, Black=Now
• Independent of selection
• Auto new items
• Ticklers go off go to new
• Start --> now
• Start Date---> 12AM
• No auto - reorder -->Purge (nomenclature questionable, perhaps using the term ‘resort’?)

Question

• Is this hard to do?
• If you're sorting by date, and then affect the last modified
• Sorting on date-->last modified if you want to edit it, will it be change the status on the triage
• Will it move automatically-->setting to purge every x time
• Does auto triaging also have the ability to purge? -no-
• Quicken always keep thing sorted

How things get into now

• Auto
• Explicit set
• Order--> became Now

• The items most recently set to now
• Event start time
• ticker goes off
• new unread
• one click away

Question

• Manual resort? (Purge) Instead of auto - tickling
• Sort today doesn't update selection
• syncing while -->cause strange things to happen
• cause strange things to happen
• you need to put things into later and done

• Date later sort
• Tickler most imminent
• Calendar ST
• When it became later--> most future
• Done sort by when something became done most recent most least recent

Ticklers

• Ticklers do not replace alarms - they are the same
• Ticklers are also an alarm
• Custom date tickler–note item specify by date and time
• Event item either no alarm, before event alarm,
• Or you can choose custom and select date and time
• Date formats in the spec say it's US english-->specify format

Important dates

1. tickler - custom
2. event date
3. last modified or sent

• The icon shows either a tickler, an event, or the last time something happened to the event.

Question:

• Can you edit the last modify column? -No-
• Edit date of a tickler -->un-tickle it?
• Standard date/time widget
• Sections?
• sort/sectioning/who/title date columns
• overlays