[comp.groupware] Request for options/features for an X-Reminder program.

xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) (09/10/90)

riesermc@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Michael Rieser) writes:
>Every semester at Purdue cs404 (Software Engineering) picks a (1) project
>to do.  This semester a Reminder program was chosen to run in conjunction
>with XCalendar.  The program is suppose to be what all previous attempts
>haven't been.  Our requirements are that it be efficient, highly configurable,
>expandable, well documented, and finished on time.
>
>Its supposed to be smart, easy to use, and secure.  It should have the
>ability to remind you of things minutes/days/years in advance.
>examples:
>	I have to leave in five minutes.
>	Tell me (every year) 2 days before my wedding anniversary to buy
>	  a present for my wife.
>	Tell me every day from the beginning of the month to pay rent 
>	  until I tell you to stop, or until the 10th.
>	(suggestions?)
>
>Its suppose to have a variety of ways of notifying you:
>	xmessage, mail, tty, ... (suggestions?)
>	
>It may also be used for groupware, possibly allowing other users to 
>schedule an appointment with/without your knowledge.
>
>Basically this thing is to be as useful as possible to as many people as
>possible.  The software once finished will be in the public domain.
>
>So, if you have wanted a program like this one.  This is your chance to
>request features.  Please no flames about something else being 'good
>enough,' this is for a grade (out group must turn in a project).  In my
>mind, if I'm going to do this thing, I want to make it worth doing. So
>if you have any interest in a program like this one, give some specs
>on what you would like it to do, and we'll attempt to satisfy as many
>as we can and still finish on time.
>
>If you know of code fragments (or whole programs) that are public domain,
>or which can legally and ethically be used by us, please let me know.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>Mike Rieser
>riesermc@mentor.cc.purdue.edu

Your request was reposted for you to comp.groupware.

But, email to you bounces bigtime, that address won't even make it past
NASA Ames mailer (one of the biggies), so here is a bit of the mail bletch
and then the answer I tried to email.

>From postmaster  Sun Sep  9 13:10:25 1990 remote from ames

   ----- Transcript of session follows -----
>>> DATA
<<< 550 <mentor.cc.purdue.edu!riesermc@j.cc.purdue.edu>... User unknown
554 pur-ee!j.cc.purdue.edu!mentor.cc.purdue.edu!riesermc... Remote protocol error

Mike,

>From the discussions on USENet's comp.groupware, if you are going to
include scheduling capabilities, one thing you are going to have to
deal with is the conflict between the "I'm the manager, _I_ schedule
meetings" and the "This is _my_ calendar; nobody writes on it but me"
points of view.

Also, some folks want an iterative scheduling mechanism: "who can do
a meeting on the Froboz contract at 5 Wednesday", "me", "me", "me",
"not me, dental appointment", "OK, we have enough to get some work
done; Charlie, we'll send you the minutes, and you send us any ideas you
have on stuff your Widget Department needs or can do to support this
contract before you head off for that root canal"; and want this
emulated in scheduling software.  Others want a "meeting at 5, be
there" kind of scheduling.

I suggest you provide a "policy" module that the user shop can
tailor for a spectrum of who can schedule an event, who approves
the entry of the schedule item on a calendar, how conflicts are
reported/resolved, and so on.

In other words, these are problems you have to solve, but just one
solution won't do, so provide a capability to set "policy": which
solution will be used.  This should probably be interactive and
not require reinstalling the software, too, so that easy explorations
of different policies can be done.

Somehow I get the feeling that I have not done very well summarizing
months of discussion, but trust me on this, this is a people problem
even more than a software problem, and your module has to solve the
people problem to become widely used.  Gives you a chance to practice
your systems analysis skills.

Hope this starts some ideas fermenting.

Kent, the man from xanth.
<xanthian@Zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <xanthian@well.sf.ca.us>
--
By the way, I follow comp.groupware, but not comp.windows.x (can't afford
GfxBase's X-Windows Amiga implementation), so any responses to _me_ rather
than the issues should go email or be cross posted to comp.groupware.