Discussions

[pixelprodigy]

I feel this is a very useful feature to allow teams to discuss issues that come up without having to go via email, the communication is then centralized. My vision for this is that its a module that is identical to the notes but called discussions instead, we kinda already use notes for this purpose but a proper module would make things easier.

A scenario is that we work with a remote team in different time zones, If I am working and think of something that needs input from the team then I can start a discussion with my thought (get it out of my head) and they can respond and when I login again I can see their thoughts and leave mine. This keeps the project moving ahead and avoids any stagnation.... sure this can be done in an email but having it in the system with everything else is much better

[Karl]

This is a very good idea. I'm missing a discussion function like this very much.

Think about posting this under "Feature requests".

[ignacio]

Hi,

We use a note and comments on that note for this purpose. We create a note and subscribe all users that we want to be involved in the conversation. They receive a notification email and click on the link to post their opinion on the subject. Now you have a conversation recorded in OpenGoo, which you can tag or link to other objects.

What do you think the notes module is missing to satisfy your needs?

[pixelprodigy]

We are using it the same, I add a note if I want to start a discusssion, however notes and discussions are inherently different but the uses overlap and both are useful. For that fact alone its better to have them separate because then things are properly categorized.

How I see them

Notes: are things I think about that are important to the project and also what I want others to know. Replies here are useful as it allows people to get clarification or even start a discussion (this is where the overlap starts)

Discussion: are things that need clarification and generally important feedback from the team so the project can move forward.

It would be nice to have a discussions tab, just like the notes but the fact that its separate will help keep things where they belong.

Another way of seeing it
I guess that in opengoo, all items are able to have comments added to them so anything can be turned into a discussion. On that premise, maybe its better to have a current discussions tab where it summarizes any items that have a comment on them. This way things that are important that are being discussed are easily accesible.

One really neat feature of an app we tried recently was that it had an inbox where all your system mesages would go, so if there was a reply to a discussion I would see it in my inbox. Yes, this works in my email but again, its important that as much of the work to be done is kept central to the system.

Maybe a workaround for that is using the built in mail function linked to an email account that is only for the notifications and set the system email to this address.

I think this is turning into two topics so I will leave it there, feedback will be great!

Here is the app I am referring to

https://www.actionmethod.com/

[pixelprodigy]

This is a very similar request.... a forum is a form of dicsussion. Ignacio's suggestion of using notes is good and could work, but would work better under a discussions tab

http://forums.opengoo.org/index.php?topic=796.0

[Karl]

pixelprodigy, I absolutely agree with you. Notes are notes and discussions are discussions. I always feel it's better to have them separate because then things are properly categorized. A centralized inbox is another good recommendation.

[conrado]

The scenario and the need you present are clear. But the design of the best solution, as you probably noticed (you presented three possible solutions already), may be the harder part to figure out.

Ignacio, Marcos and I had a little discussion about this thread, and we are still not sure of how to address it best.

When this is the situation (and this happens quite frequently) we usually go two ways:
1) We let the feature request rest for a while, until we see it as a priority, and the solution is clear to us.
2) The person or organization that request the feature sponsors its development.

Keep it coming!

[bountonw]

I just posted to a thread requesting
forums.

We can already comment on notes, documents and tasks.  The problem is that the text of the comments can not be modified.  This limits the discussions to fonts whose native font size is readable in the comment box.  Unfortunately for Thai, whose native fontsize is about 1/2 of English, it doesn't appear to work.

If we still need a discussion/forum feature, which one should it be? or should we have both as both have been proposed? Or is this two words for the same thing?

[max]

Okay, so this is the best place to talk about discussions. I belive that pixelprodigy got it just right and we should elaborate on that a little:

I guess that in opengoo, all items are able to have comments added to them so anything can be turned into a discussion. On that premise, maybe its better to have a current discussions tab where it summarizes any items that have a comment on them. This way things that are important that are being discussed are easily accesible.

This is really a very powerful concept and I believe I haven't seen such an elegant means for discussion in a while. Basically - and functionally - I can imagine that "Discussions" tab as something visually similar to the search results tab, where you already are summarizing results of all the different data types (documents, notes, tasks, contacts) there are.

* I'd like to Group that discussions view by: workspace, date, tag.
* and i'd like to be able to fold the discussion threads so that only the first line of each comment, or the full comments be visible, indented
* and be able to add comments to each thread; and perhaps edit old comments if I am the original author.
* and I second the other users' remarks that text in notes as well as in comments should be stylable just as regular documents are.

(by the way if we could comment on comments, that would allow for the full complexity of a branching forum.)

Now, Conrado, I am quite confident that this would be a pretty good solution indeed?

If you'd like me to render up a screenshot of how that would look like, I might find the time for it.

Another feature for my sponsorships list, perhaps.

[Karl]

I still second the need for a discussion (tab or forum) functionality besides "notes".

Karl

[conrado]

This issue/feature is not forgotten.

@Max: Good ideas. Yes, every contribution will help in bringing a solution to this issue sooner. Sponsorship certainly speeds things up a lot too.

[Thomas]

I have played extensively with at least 60 SAAS and self hosted PM/Collab solutions in the last two years. On top of general PM tools, I've used Rally and Mingle for agile development, Jira and FogBugz for issue tracking, SugarCRM and vTiger for CRM. I've done feature comparison matrices, even written apps to compare real time calculations of page rank, alexa rank, etc. You could say I'm a little obsessed with tools like this.

Then I found OpenGoo, and I'm blown away. You guys have done a fantastic job. Sure there are more comprehensive (and slick) solutions for money, but to get this kind of quality in an open source free project (in this category) is amazing. There are many things that set OpenGoo apart, but the primary one for me is that it's highly usable. It's lightning quick. It doesn't overwhelm me with stuff I don't need (but I can quickly expand my options). I'm never lost or confused. And, I can get to almost everything in the entire system in three clicks. Amazing.

I'm posting in this thread because the one thing I would ask is to make the community/collaboration within OG more flexible and rich.

Comments, Descriptions, and Notes should have at least bold, underline and bullets (and remember carriage returns). For instance, I would love to create quick agendas for new events in the descriptions box, but it's currently unusable, as OG does not even save my carriage returns in 2.4RC (when creating a new event).

Another example is when I upload a flowchart or image, I often solicit feedback in the comments. I have a hell of a time sorting though paragraphs, dashes, lines made of equals, asterisks for bullets, etc. that are screaming to be clean unordered or ordered lists with some kind of bold or underlined organization.

To me, notes are very similar to discussions; the original note pretty much being the title of the discussion that will follow in comments. And, with the super flexible folder organization of OG, you can choose exactly where this discussion will take place. But again, I have the same complaint... bold, underline, and bullets. Judging by this thread, perhaps a name change for 'notes' is in order as well.

Of course I would love to be able to insert inline tables, images, video, etc. but I feel like the stuff I've outlined above would make a huge difference for the amount of development time it would take to implement.

Thanks for a great product and please keep doing what your doing.

- Thomas

[Pet]

I have been following this thread for a while, but haven't commented yet because I wanted to use Notes more thoroughly in a discussion capacity.  I have to agree with the other posters, in the absence of a true discussion forum, Notes is the current alternative, and as such should at the very least support formatting.

[conrado]

I have played extensively with at least 60 SAAS and self hosted PM/Collab solutions in the last two years. On top of general PM tools, I've used Rally and Mingle for agile development, Jira and FogBugz for issue tracking, SugarCRM and vTiger for CRM. I've done feature comparison matrices, even written apps to compare real time calculations of page rank, alexa rank, etc. You could say I'm a little obsessed with tools like this.

Wow! That is a lot of work! My sympathies are with you... You are as obsessed as I am. 

Then I found OpenGoo, and I'm blown away. You guys have done a fantastic job.

Thank you! 

Sure there are more comprehensive ... solutions ...

True.

...(and slick)...

That... well... if it is so, it shouldn't be long till OpenGoo becomes "the slickiest". And... YOUR HELP IS NEEDED

...solutions for money, but to get this kind of quality in an open source free project (in this category) is amazing.

Well... building good products and services takes money (or time... which is money). In OpenGoo's case it has taken a lot of both! And it continues to do. Luckily, OpenGoo development and evolution is healthily supported by the services Feng Office provides, and the time and brainpower that the community puts into the project. But we just can't get enough of it (Enough of OpenGoo evolution that is...  )

There are many things that set OpenGoo apart, but the primary one for me is that it's highly usable. It's lightning quick. It doesn't overwhelm me with stuff I don't need (but I can quickly expand my options). I'm never lost or confused. And, I can get to almost everything in the entire system in three clicks. Amazing.

That is just too kind!

I'm posting in this thread because the one thing I would ask is to make the community/collaboration within OG more flexible and rich.

Comments, Descriptions, and Notes should have at least bold, underline and bullets (and remember carriage returns). For instance, I would love to create quick agendas for new events in the descriptions box, but it's currently unusable, as OG does not even save my carriage returns in 2.4RC (when creating a new event).

Another example is when I upload a flowchart or image, I often solicit feedback in the comments. I have a hell of a time sorting though paragraphs, dashes, lines made of equals, asterisks for bullets, etc. that are screaming to be clean unordered or ordered lists with some kind of bold or underlined organization.

To me, notes are very similar to discussions; the original note pretty much being the title of the discussion that will follow in comments. And, with the super flexible folder organization of OG, you can choose exactly where this discussion will take place. But again, I have the same complaint... bold, underline, and bullets. Judging by this thread, perhaps a name change for 'notes' is in order as well.

Of course I would love to be able to insert inline tables, images, video, etc. but I feel like the stuff I've outlined above would make a huge difference for the amount of development time it would take to implement.

We are working to improve this on version 1.5 (handling of spaces and links), though additional font formatting options will not probably make it yet. See this thread for my arguments.

Thanks for a great product and please keep doing what your doing.

- Thomas

You are certainly welcome. And rest assured we will keep doing it.

[Thomas]

You want to be the slickest eh? I hate to say it, but the rounded thing comes to mind I'll stop at the risk of being stoned.

I'm not exactly sure how to convince you that simple formatting (in notes, descriptions, comments, etc.) would be a huge plus, but I'll try...

In my experience, very simple formatting (bold, underline, bullets, etc.) almost always improves usability because if people have space to write in, they inevitably try to organize their thoughts. If there are no standard tools, they do this with caps, dashes, stars, equals, etc..

i.e.

Benefits
=======

* Clear Communication
* Standardized
* Consistent
* Usable

This may look like a good way to organize text, the problem is... it's not consistent from user to user. And, no formatting lends itself to paragraphs of text that are more difficult to get through.

As far as dev time... Can't you simply modify the current WYSIWYG editor to only include a few tools, and drop it in these areas

Thanks for listening...
Thomas