Feature List for the Tasks Capplet

Key

= Feature In Canoga
= Design Challenge
= Debatable Feature
= Outside Canoga Scope

Proposed Features

Canoga Status	Feature	Description
_What's in a Task_
	Tasks are ContentItems	Tasks will be first-class items, like Mail Messages and Contacts
	subject	A task can have a simple one-line title (or headline, or subject)
	body	A free form text field, which can have rich text.
	dependencies	A task can depend on other tasks
	requestor/requestee	A task can have a requestor and a requestee. The requestee can be used to represent the person who requested the task (e.g. my boss) or the person to whom the task is "owed" (e.g. my boss's important client).
	drag items into task	A user can create a task and then drag other items into the task to include them as part of the task.
	sub tasks	Can Tasks have sub-tasks? Maybe if we have task dependencies then we don't really need sub-tasks? Maybe if we have Projects and sub-projects, then we don't really need sub-tasks?
	inherited attributes	Task will inherit a number of attributes from Content Item, like a Project attribute, Creator, Creation Date, etc.
	status	A Task will definitely have a status attribute of some sort, but we haven't decided just what it will be. Maybe a simple "done"/"not done", or maybe something more complicated ("done", "not done", "not started", "waiting on someone else", "in progress", "deferred"). We also need to decide if the "workflow status" of a Task is in any way related to the "workflow status" of an email message?
_Unification between Tasks and Calendar Events_
	unified tasks and events	We will try to unify Tasks and Calendar events, so that there is just one Kind that has the union of the attributes of both. Items of that Kind can be used to represent things that are only like tasks, or things that are only like calendar events, or things that have attributes of both. See DesignIssuesMeeting20031117
	task=>event dependencies	A Task can depend upon a Calendar Event
	event=>task dependencies	A Calendar Event can depend upon a Task
	reminders	Tasks can have reminders
	recurrence	Tasks can recur
	"due on" date	Tasks can have a "due on" date, which we might achieve simply by using the Calendar Event "endDate"
	adding dates	A task can start out without any date or time info ("call Jane") and then later you can add some date info ("call jane on wednesday") and then later add more datetime info ("call Jane -- Wednesday between 4:00 and 4:30")
_Tasks Views_
	tasks capplet	We will have a separate tasks "view" or tasks capplet, where the user can look at their to-do list.
	tasks in other views	Tasks can potentionally appear in other views, like calendar week view.
	unification of tasks and notes	On 06 Nov 2003, Mitch suggested that we wanted to have a single view that handles both tasks and notes, and that we should consider notes as often being little proto-tasks. See DesignIssuesMeeting20031106. Will there be a separate Capplet for managing Notes, or will Notes and Task be merged, with Notes acting (mostly) like proto-Tasks?
_Making Tasks_
	Create Tasks from Inbox	You can create a new task by using a "task stamp" to label a Mail Message as having an associated task. This will create a Task that has a "strong link" to the Mail Message, so that actions on the Mail Message might impact the task (e.g. deleting the Mail Message might delete the Task)
	Stand-alone Tasks	You can create a new task by going to your to-do list and adding a new task there.
_Open Issues_
	Can you convert Tasks to a Project?	...
_Not in Canoga_
	Task delegation affordances -- delegation workflows	...

Proposed Schema

• subject
• body
• status
  • might just be ("done", "not done")
  • or might be more complicated
    • "done"
    • "not done"
      • "not started"
      • "waiting on someone else"
      • "in progress"
      • "deferred"
• requestor
• requestee
• dependencies
  • depends on
  • blocks
• "do on" date
• reminder
• ----
• other attributes inherited from Content Item
  • project
  • FYI links

Contributors

• BrianDouglasSkinner - 21 Nov 2003

Discussion

• ChaoLam - 5 Dec 2003
  • I think there are two dates for tasks:
    1. A "do on" date. A date user has scheduled to work on this task
    2. A "due" date, which may be different from (1)
  • How these dates are reflected on the calendar is a good question (I don't think it was covered).

• JeffreyHarris - 3 Dec 2003
  • "Tasks can have a 'due on' date, which we might achieve simply by using the Calendar Event 'endDate'"
  • I'd like to register my opinion that dueOn and endDate can be fairly different. Lets say I have a conference scheduled. The conference sessions should have endDates, they stop being relevant after the dates are passed. My task to create a draft of the agenda by yesterday should keep reminding me of its existence until I let it know that it's complete...