The design and usage of tentative events for time-based social coordination in the enterprise

Abstract

Existing enterprise calendaring systems have suffered from problems like rigidity, lack of transparency, and poor integration with social networks. We present the system design and rationale for a novel social coordination mechanism, called "Suggestions," that addresses these issues. Our system integrates ideas drawn from designs of lightweight polling systems and one's social network into an open calendar tool, providing a space for users to coordinate, socialize around, or negotiate the "what" and the "when" of their events. Suggestions was released inside a large enterprise setting, where initial interviews revealed users' thoughts on transparent scheduling, reaching wider audiences and task appropriateness, and suggested ways to improve our design. Copyright © 2011 by the Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. (ACM).