Kasimir provides a framework for integrated and collaborative task management. Compared to traditional ways of managing personal every-day tasks e.g. "Todo lists"), but also to existing task management approaches as implemented e.g. in Microsoft Outlook, this new form of task management offers two main advantages:

• integration: Kasimir is implemented as a (minimally intrusive) sidebar that can be put alongside any application and comes with a number of plug-ins that can be used to create tasks from applications (e.g. from an email client or web browser). They can also be used to extend existing tasks: The execution of a task normally requires some "instruments" such as documents, emails, person contact data etc. By attaching these to a task in Kasimir, the execution of the task is facilitated because of instant access to these.
• collaboration: tasks from Todo lists are hard to share with others. Apart from the possibility of delegating tasks - which involves transfer of all task metadata and attachments - Kasimir introduces the new concept of task patterns which are designed for the re-use of collected work experience. They contain so-called abstractors that describe resources in an abstract way and can be considered as services for identifying resources required in a task. Patterns are built incrementally, by collaboratively refining abstractors from existing or new tasks.

Pattern-based task management (PBTM) is relevant in the context of MATURE mainly as a process maturing approach where patterns can be considered as having a maturity level in between simple tasks and elaborated process models. Since they are created bottom-up and collaboratively by the users, they involve no modeling effort and preserve the work context. In addition, task management creates relations between objects (tasks, persons, documents) that can be useful for augmenting an associative network.

Since user motivation to contribute to task pattern creation is a crucial factor for the success of PBTM, the design study at Structuralia aims at finding out about a) which barriers might exist (missing usability, effort of contribution, privacy concerns etc.) in the existing tool and b) how the tool could be improved to reduce or remove these barriers. In addition, the study examines the question whether PBTM is really a viable way of maturing processes by analysing how users feel about its likely benefits.
 

Related information

• Ong, E.; Grebner, O.; Riss, U.V. (2007). Pattern-based task management: Pattern Lifecycle and Knowledge Management. Proceedings of WM'07. 
• Riss, U.V.; Cress, U.; Kimmerle, J.; Martin, S. (2006). Knowledge Transfer by Sharing Task Patterns - From Experiment to Application. Knowledge Management Research and Practice , 5, 287-296. 
• Jarodzka, H.M.; Grebner, O.; Ong, E.; Riss, U.V. (2007). Motivate users to construct collective knowledge via IT. In N. Gronau (Ed.), 4. Konferenz Professionelles Wissensmanagement - Erfahrungen und Visionen (pp. 372-381). Berlin: GITO.

Involved persons: Hans Friedrich Witschel, Bo Hu, Uwe Riss (SAP), Miguel Amerigo (Structuralia)