Features/Thunderbird/Instant messaging in Thunderbird

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Status

Instant messaging in Thunderbird
Stage	Draft
Status	`
Release target	`
Health	OK
Status note	`

{{#set:Feature name=Instant messaging in Thunderbird

|Feature stage=Draft |Feature status=` |Feature version=` |Feature health=OK |Feature status note=` }}

Team

Product manager	Florian Quèze
Directly Responsible Individual	`
Lead engineer	`
Security lead	`
Privacy lead	`
Localization lead	`
Accessibility lead	`
QA lead	`
UX lead	`
Product marketing lead	`
Operations lead	`
Additional members	`

{{#set:Feature product manager=Florian Quèze

|Feature feature manager=` |Feature lead engineer=` |Feature security lead=` |Feature privacy lead=` |Feature localization lead=` |Feature accessibility lead=` |Feature qa lead=` |Feature ux lead=` |Feature product marketing lead=` |Feature operations lead=` |Feature additional members=` }}

Open issues/risks

Some points that are still completely open to discussion but need a decision before or as part of the "Design" stage here:

• Should Thunderbird replace the user's current IM client, or attempt to integrate tightly with it? (ie use installed IM clients vs connect directly)

• Should IMs go above the current content (the emails the user is reading or the email he is composing) or be contained in some specific area (tab? folder? other window?) where the user would have to go to exchange IMs.
  • Showing IMs above may be interrupting/distracting.
  • IMs may go unnoticed if they aren't visible enough, and lose the benefit of "instantness" that IM has compared to email.
  • (Gmail shows IMs above emails.)

• What's the scope of "instant messaging"?
  • In this context, IM may extend to social network communications, or even to telephony or anything providing a more "instant" communication than email.
  • Which protocols of "instant" communication make sense here probably depend on what the users we target need or already use. 'protocols' might be less relevant than 'network' from a user stand point. I suggest we use this word rather than the technical one.
  • What network list should we consider ?

Stage 1: Definition

1. Feature overview

The goal is to bring additional value to Thunderbird users by leveraging instant messaging communications. In other words, to enrich the email experience with instant messaging functionality.

2. Users & use cases

Targeted users are people who use Thunderbird for their emails and use some other software to IM the same set of contacts.

Additional value should come from bringing IM features closer to Thunderbird, for example:

• Seeing that the sender of an email is available to chat may lead the user to decide an IM conversation is better to get some clarification about some points of the email he was reading.
• Then, be able to annotate the email with this IM conversation, i.e attach parts of IM conversation as comments to the email. This enriched conversation will then be fully searchable and archivable.
• When a user is about to start an IM conversation with a contact, showing the list of exhanged emails with this person could avoid wasting time for both people (maybe the desired information is right there in the bulk of unread emails? Maybe the latest email explains why the person wouldn't be able to give a useful answer anyway? ...)
• When trying to get back to some piece of information obtained in the past from someone, searching in both email and IM archives removes for the user the burden of remembering which communication medium was used.
• Forwarding (parts of) an IM conversation should be easier if the IM conversation is reachable directly from Thunderbird.
• If emails are shown in a conversation view, integrating in that view the IM conversations that happened on the same subject could give a better overview of the exchanges.

3. Dependencies

• Address book updates to support IM addresses for different networks (?)

4. Requirements

• Manage contacts for email and IM in a single place.
• Search both Email and IM archives at once.

Non-goals

• Turn Thunderbird into an IM client. The goal is not to attract people who don't intend to use Thunderbird for their emails.

Stage 2: Design

5. Functional specification

`

6. User experience design

`

Stage 3: Planning

7. Implementation plan

`

8. Reviews

Security review

`

Privacy review

`

Localization review

`

Accessibility

`

Quality Assurance review

`

Operations review

`

Stage 4: Development

9. Implementation

`

Stage 5: Release

10. Landing criteria

` {{#set:Feature open issues and risks=Some points that are still completely open to discussion but need a decision before or as part of the "Design" stage here:

• Should Thunderbird replace the user's current IM client, or attempt to integrate tightly with it? (ie use installed IM clients vs connect directly)

• Should IMs go above the current content (the emails the user is reading or the email he is composing) or be contained in some specific area (tab? folder? other window?) where the user would have to go to exchange IMs.
  • Showing IMs above may be interrupting/distracting.
  • IMs may go unnoticed if they aren't visible enough, and lose the benefit of "instantness" that IM has compared to email.
  • (Gmail shows IMs above emails.)

• What's the scope of "instant messaging"?
  • In this context, IM may extend to social network communications, or even to telephony or anything providing a more "instant" communication than email.
  • Which protocols of "instant" communication make sense here probably depend on what the users we target need or already use. 'protocols' might be less relevant than 'network' from a user stand point. I suggest we use this word rather than the technical one.
  • What network list should we consider ?

|Feature overview=The goal is to bring additional value to Thunderbird users by leveraging instant messaging communications. In other words, to enrich the email experience with instant messaging functionality. |Feature users and use cases=Targeted users are people who use Thunderbird for their emails and use some other software to IM the same set of contacts.

Additional value should come from bringing IM features closer to Thunderbird, for example:

• Seeing that the sender of an email is available to chat may lead the user to decide an IM conversation is better to get some clarification about some points of the email he was reading.
• Then, be able to annotate the email with this IM conversation, i.e attach parts of IM conversation as comments to the email. This enriched conversation will then be fully searchable and archivable.
• When a user is about to start an IM conversation with a contact, showing the list of exhanged emails with this person could avoid wasting time for both people (maybe the desired information is right there in the bulk of unread emails? Maybe the latest email explains why the person wouldn't be able to give a useful answer anyway? ...)
• When trying to get back to some piece of information obtained in the past from someone, searching in both email and IM archives removes for the user the burden of remembering which communication medium was used.
• Forwarding (parts of) an IM conversation should be easier if the IM conversation is reachable directly from Thunderbird.
• If emails are shown in a conversation view, integrating in that view the IM conversations that happened on the same subject could give a better overview of the exchanges.

|Feature dependencies=* Address book updates to support IM addresses for different networks (?) |Feature requirements=* Manage contacts for email and IM in a single place.

• Search both Email and IM archives at once.

|Feature non-goals=* Turn Thunderbird into an IM client. The goal is not to attract people who don't intend to use Thunderbird for their emails. |Feature functional spec=` |Feature ux design=` |Feature implementation plan=` |Feature security review=` |Feature privacy review=` |Feature localization review=` |Feature accessibility review=` |Feature qa review=` |Feature operations review=` |Feature implementation notes=` |Feature landing criteria=` }}

Feature details

Priority	Unprioritized
Rank	999
Theme / Goal	`
Roadmap	`
Secondary roadmap	`
Feature list	`
Project	`
Engineering team	`

{{#set:Feature priority=Unprioritized

|Feature rank=999 |Feature theme=` |Feature roadmap=` |Feature secondary roadmap=` |Feature list=` |Feature project=` |Feature engineering team=` }}

Team status notes

	status	notes
Products	`	`
Engineering	`	`
Security	`	`
Privacy	`	`
Localization	`	`
Accessibility	`	`
Quality assurance	`	`
User experience	`	`
Product marketing	`	`
Operations	`	`

{{#set:Feature products status=`

|Feature products notes=` |Feature engineering status=` |Feature engineering notes=` |Feature security status=` |Feature security health=` |Feature security notes=` |Feature privacy status=` |Feature privacy notes=` |Feature localization status=` |Feature localization notes=` |Feature accessibility status=` |Feature accessibility notes=` |Feature qa status=` |Feature qa notes=` |Feature ux status=` |Feature ux notes=` |Feature product marketing status=` |Feature product marketing notes=` |Feature operations status=` |Feature operations notes=` }}