Comments on: Users are never wrong – it’s the technology that needs to be fixed. Maybe… http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2009/02/03/users-are-never-wrong-its-the-technology-that-needs-to-be-fixed-maybe/ A member of the Gartner Blog Network Wed, 16 Feb 2011 20:55:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: veri kurtarma http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2009/02/03/users-are-never-wrong-its-the-technology-that-needs-to-be-fixed-maybe/comment-page-1/#comment-81 veri kurtarma Tue, 19 May 2009 14:01:31 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2009/02/03/users-are-never-wrong-its-the-technology-that-needs-to-be-fixed-maybe/#comment-81 "Why do people hit “Reply-All” Because they really don't know the difference between "Reply" and "Reply-All" The best way to avoid that kind of "junk mails" is kindly warn people. “Why do people hit “Reply-All” Because they really don’t know the difference between “Reply” and “Reply-All” The best way to avoid that kind of “junk mails” is kindly warn people.

]]> By: Marsha Egan http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2009/02/03/users-are-never-wrong-its-the-technology-that-needs-to-be-fixed-maybe/comment-page-1/#comment-51 Marsha Egan Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:31:25 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2009/02/03/users-are-never-wrong-its-the-technology-that-needs-to-be-fixed-maybe/#comment-51 This all goes back to -- "THINK before you send!" combined with some business etiquette that respects the recipients. Why does e-mail give people an excuse to be careless or lazy? Even more than that, don't they realize that when others see people hitting reply all, they draw (negative) conclusions about that person? Can be career limiting! This all goes back to — “THINK before you send!” combined with some business etiquette that respects the recipients. Why does e-mail give people an excuse to be careless or lazy? Even more than that, don’t they realize that when others see people hitting reply all, they draw (negative) conclusions about that person? Can be career limiting!

]]> By: Eric Knipp http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2009/02/03/users-are-never-wrong-its-the-technology-that-needs-to-be-fixed-maybe/comment-page-1/#comment-46 Eric Knipp Wed, 04 Feb 2009 05:26:11 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2009/02/03/users-are-never-wrong-its-the-technology-that-needs-to-be-fixed-maybe/#comment-46 Didn't google just release a feature for gmail called goggles - to prevent you from emailing when under the influence (EUI)? All kidding aside, email isn't the only problem. Modern technology makes it easy to throw our random thoughts over the wall at others, whether we use email, texting, facebook, twitter, etc. Every day we face a flood of communication, none of it prioritized or tagged for context. We allow - perhaps invite - constant disruption and are at the mercy of our communication tools. A vendor that could offer a product or service that would aggregate all of this stuff and intelligently prioritize and categorize it based on our behavior patterns and personal preferences might really have something. We have spam filtering that works pretty well, maybe this is the next step. On the other hand this problem might be NP-complete and I'm known to change preferences from one second to the next.. You know, this reminds me of something. I recently read an article about a new product that was supposed to do just this for e-mail. I think it was targeted at sales professionals. For the life of me I can't remember the name of the thing. Didn’t google just release a feature for gmail called goggles – to prevent you from emailing when under the influence (EUI)?

All kidding aside, email isn’t the only problem. Modern technology makes it easy to throw our random thoughts over the wall at others, whether we use email, texting, facebook, twitter, etc. Every day we face a flood of communication, none of it prioritized or tagged for context. We allow – perhaps invite – constant disruption and are at the mercy of our communication tools.

A vendor that could offer a product or service that would aggregate all of this stuff and intelligently prioritize and categorize it based on our behavior patterns and personal preferences might really have something. We have spam filtering that works pretty well, maybe this is the next step. On the other hand this problem might be NP-complete and I’m known to change preferences from one second to the next..

You know, this reminds me of something. I recently read an article about a new product that was supposed to do just this for e-mail. I think it was targeted at sales professionals. For the life of me I can’t remember the name of the thing.

]]> By: Lydia Leong http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2009/02/03/users-are-never-wrong-its-the-technology-that-needs-to-be-fixed-maybe/comment-page-1/#comment-45 Lydia Leong Wed, 04 Feb 2009 03:12:51 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2009/02/03/users-are-never-wrong-its-the-technology-that-needs-to-be-fixed-maybe/#comment-45 I think group discussions should take place in venues that are suited to them. Email is not that medium. However, it's clear that a substantial percentage of people do like to read and reply to discussions in email. What we need is for email clients to seamlessly blend in other collaboration technologies. I sort of liked email-to-NNTP (USENET news) gatewaying back in the day, though... I think group discussions should take place in venues that are suited to them. Email is not that medium.

However, it’s clear that a substantial percentage of people do like to read and reply to discussions in email. What we need is for email clients to seamlessly blend in other collaboration technologies.

I sort of liked email-to-NNTP (USENET news) gatewaying back in the day, though…

]]> By: Anthony Bradley http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2009/02/03/users-are-never-wrong-its-the-technology-that-needs-to-be-fixed-maybe/comment-page-1/#comment-43 Anthony Bradley Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:57:38 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2009/02/03/users-are-never-wrong-its-the-technology-that-needs-to-be-fixed-maybe/#comment-43 Once more, the only reason they say it at all is because there is a lot of e-mail proving there ARE a bunch of people really interested. I have responded to some with a little tutorial on how to set a rule. I ususally do it privately but I have seen others give the little "learn the technology" tutorial publicly. Once more, the only reason they say it at all is because there is a lot of e-mail proving there ARE a bunch of people really interested.

I have responded to some with a little tutorial on how to set a rule. I ususally do it privately but I have seen others give the little “learn the technology” tutorial publicly.

]]> By: Tom Austin http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2009/02/03/users-are-never-wrong-its-the-technology-that-needs-to-be-fixed-maybe/comment-page-1/#comment-42 Tom Austin Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:33:39 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2009/02/03/users-are-never-wrong-its-the-technology-that-needs-to-be-fixed-maybe/#comment-42 Funny you should say that, Anthony. I too find it really rude when someone sends an email saying "take this discussion out of email". Really rude. How do they know most other people who are attending to the discussion aren't really interested? Funny you should say that, Anthony. I too find it really rude when someone sends an email saying “take this discussion out of email”. Really rude. How do they know most other people who are attending to the discussion aren’t really interested?

]]> By: Anthony Bradley http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2009/02/03/users-are-never-wrong-its-the-technology-that-needs-to-be-fixed-maybe/comment-page-1/#comment-41 Anthony Bradley Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:18:13 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2009/02/03/users-are-never-wrong-its-the-technology-that-needs-to-be-fixed-maybe/#comment-41 I don't think the sender should be overly responsible for culling the To: line. Let's use Tom's example of a conversation in my living room with, say, ten people. I am not about to say to 6 of them, "Sorry, you're out of this conversation becasue I have deemed that you either are not or should not be interested in what we are saying." I wouldn't do this even if they looked obviously bored and I don't have the ability to sense that over e-mail. It is up to them to decide to walk away and take the action. Frankly, people that ask to be removed strike me as rude and technologically stunted because they can't go thru the 3 clicks to put a rule in place. Again, if you were in my living room would you ask me not to talk to you because you are not interested when others clearly are? If you did, you would not be invited back to my house and when you tried to further a discussion I might just stifle you. No, it is up to the recipient to walk away. I'm with Tom Short. Provide an "Ignore This Thread" button to make it easier to walk away from an e-mail conversation. I don’t think the sender should be overly responsible for culling the To: line. Let’s use Tom’s example of a conversation in my living room with, say, ten people. I am not about to say to 6 of them, “Sorry, you’re out of this conversation becasue I have deemed that you either are not or should not be interested in what we are saying.” I wouldn’t do this even if they looked obviously bored and I don’t have the ability to sense that over e-mail. It is up to them to decide to walk away and take the action.

Frankly, people that ask to be removed strike me as rude and technologically stunted because they can’t go thru the 3 clicks to put a rule in place. Again, if you were in my living room would you ask me not to talk to you because you are not interested when others clearly are? If you did, you would not be invited back to my house and when you tried to further a discussion I might just stifle you. No, it is up to the recipient to walk away.

I’m with Tom Short. Provide an “Ignore This Thread” button to make it easier to walk away from an e-mail conversation.

]]> By: Tom Austin http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2009/02/03/users-are-never-wrong-its-the-technology-that-needs-to-be-fixed-maybe/comment-page-1/#comment-40 Tom Austin Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:00:54 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2009/02/03/users-are-never-wrong-its-the-technology-that-needs-to-be-fixed-maybe/#comment-40 Yes! This is right in the spirit of this post! It's not users that are broken, it's the technology (or rather, make the technology better adapted to the wants and needs of the users). You're suggesting changing how email works, making it smart. Take your suggestion further -- change the email app as you recommend and let it show the user, in their inbox, a single entry for the thread -- and the number of relies that are there. If the user opens the thread, they get popped into a threaded view of the discussion (which may be available offline ...) but if they don't, it's completely hidden... and they get no more annoying extra emails (but they're all there). This is sort of a mix of the current Google threaded UI and the customizability of Outlook and a whole lot more. More importantly, it's adjusting the tools to work the way users work and not berating the users for not working in a way conceptualized when the tool was designed.... Thanks, Yes! This is right in the spirit of this post!
It’s not users that are broken, it’s the technology (or rather, make the technology better adapted to the wants and needs of the users).

You’re suggesting changing how email works, making it smart. Take your suggestion further — change the email app as you recommend and let it show the user, in their inbox, a single entry for the thread — and the number of relies that are there. If the user opens the thread, they get popped into a threaded view of the discussion (which may be available offline …) but if they don’t, it’s completely hidden… and they get no more annoying extra emails (but they’re all there).

This is sort of a mix of the current Google threaded UI and the customizability of Outlook and a whole lot more.

More importantly, it’s adjusting the tools to work the way users work and not berating the users for not working in a way conceptualized when the tool was designed….

Thanks,

]]> By: Sue Landry http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2009/02/03/users-are-never-wrong-its-the-technology-that-needs-to-be-fixed-maybe/comment-page-1/#comment-39 Sue Landry Tue, 03 Feb 2009 20:54:59 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2009/02/03/users-are-never-wrong-its-the-technology-that-needs-to-be-fixed-maybe/#comment-39 Ugh -- this is a huge pet peeve, but it got me to thinking about an alternate suggestion – to be really nifty, for any given root email – the first “Reply All’ should create an entry in the enterprise’s standard collaboration tool or wiki and automatically email a link to “All” announcing the dialog is open. Then, all subsequent “reply all” emails would automatically populate that dialog. A simple “reply” would only go to the author of the original root email. Just imaging the positive dent we’d make in GDP! Ugh — this is a huge pet peeve, but it got me to thinking about an alternate suggestion – to be really nifty, for any given root email – the first “Reply All’ should create an entry in the enterprise’s standard collaboration tool or wiki and automatically email a link to “All” announcing the dialog is open. Then, all subsequent “reply all” emails would automatically populate that dialog.

A simple “reply” would only go to the author of the original root email.

Just imaging the positive dent we’d make in GDP!

]]> By: Tom Short http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2009/02/03/users-are-never-wrong-its-the-technology-that-needs-to-be-fixed-maybe/comment-page-1/#comment-37 Tom Short Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:37:54 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/tom_austin/2009/02/03/users-are-never-wrong-its-the-technology-that-needs-to-be-fixed-maybe/#comment-37 How about taking advantage of native MSOutlook functionality to create a custom toolbar icon that automagically creates a rule for the offending subject - "when subject contains [a topic I want to ignore]" take the following action: "move directly to Deleted folder" (and then run it against all mail in the inbox to really clean it out). Doing this through the menus takes a bit of work - but doing it via a toolbar button would make it pretty painless, I would think. How about taking advantage of native MSOutlook functionality to create a custom toolbar icon that automagically creates a rule for the offending subject – “when subject contains [a topic I want to ignore]” take the following action: “move directly to Deleted folder” (and then run it against all mail in the inbox to really clean it out).

Doing this through the menus takes a bit of work – but doing it via a toolbar button would make it pretty painless, I would think.

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