Overview

This page attemps to highlight the basic, routine workflows most central to Kibble.

We are focusing on the basic workflows that highlight what is most problematic with the structure of our UI currently, namely the Application Bar (aka "Kind filter") and the side bar.

A more comprehensive list of Canoga workflows we have considered can be found at CanogaUsagePatterns.

Routine workflows

This lists the most common workflows that a PIM user would expect. The Kibble UI must solve these workflows very simply. NOTE: These are all important workflows (even P3s) for Kibble. The prioritization is based on how basic the workflows are and is to guide us within these important workflows.

P1:

• Reading new mail
• Composing/replying to mail
• Scheduling an event for myself
• Creating new tasks
• Reviewing/editing my calendar
• Cleaning up items (e.g. deleting or junking items)
• Searching for mail

P2:

• Distinguishing mail for follow-up
• Manually filing mail
• Reviewing/editing my tasks

P3:

• Reviewing/editing a shared calendar
• Scheduling an event with someone else
• Reviewing mailing lists
• Auto filing mail (done automatically so no user steps taken, but UI should show how items are auto-filed)

Criteria for "routine workflow"

• How common or frequent is it for a given person?
• How advanced is this feature? Is this a workflow that is only frequently used by an advanced user or by everyone?

Set-up Workflows

These are workflows, while not basic or routine, are required for the user to perform the routine workflows. These workflows are more complicated and ideal for a step-by-step, guided "wizard"-like interface.

• Set up mail accounts
• Set up share accounts
• Set up a calendar share
• Set up a generic share
• Set up mailing list auto filing

"Old World" affordances

This section list UI affordances that users are used to and have come to expect from PIMs. We highlight the affordances that are especially difficult in the Chandler world:

• Hierarchical folders
• Items can live in only one place
  • Old world users move items from one folder to another, Chandler users add items to new collections
• Folders only contain one Kind. Collections can contain multiple kinds
• Migrating existing settings:
  • How do users transfer or map their existing IMAP mail folder hierarchy to the Chandler world?
  • How do users transfer or map filters (Chandler rules) to the Chandler world?

Common problems existing PIMs do not address well today

The above "routine workflows" list workflows that most PIMs address in some way or another today. However, our original impetus for Chandler is that existing PIMs do not address the very common and well-known "information overload" problem (or the need to triage items quickly). There is an opportunity for Chandler to attract users by tackling this problem well. Strategic question: should Kibble attempt to solve this key problem in addition to routine workflows listed above?

Workflows we are not focusing on (incomplete list):

• Reviewing a project
• Reviewing a saved search result
• Scheduling an event for someone else (delegation)

Links

• KibbleNavigationReview
• OtherPIMSidebarExploration

-- ChaoLam * 27 Oct 2004