Have you ever sent an email to the wrong person because their name was the same as, or similar to, the person that you actually intended to communicate with? The story goes something like this...
You start typing the person's name, and the wonders of type-ahead take over. Without looking too closely, you select a highlighted name and choose Ted Johnson in Atlanta instead of Ted Johnson in New York, whom you really meant to select. Another time, you mistakenly sent an email to Ted Jones! Sometimes, sending an email to the wrong person seems to happen in slow motion, like shutting your locked car door with the keys inside. You have the feeling that something is wrong, but you're helpless to stop it from happening. Other times, unfortunately, you're oblivious to the fact that you've emailed the wrong person.
The first scenario can be embarrassing, but you know that it happened and can take measures to correct it. The second scenario is more of an issue. You're at the mercy of Ted Johnson in Atlanta or Ted Jones to alert you of your mistake. Otherwise, you wait, wondering why Ted Johnson in New York hasn't responded to your well-crafted email.
Lotus Notes 8 can help make these type of mistakes a thing of the past. Lotus Notes 8 keeps track of the people that you communicate with most often and moves those names to the top of your type-ahead list. Instead of being sorted in alphabetical order, the type-ahead list is sorted based on the people with whom you most often interact. If you've never sent a message to Ted Johnson in Atlanta or Ted Jones, they won't appear on the list, eliminating the possibility of choosing them by mistake.
It's a simple concept, really, based on the premise that the people with whom you are most likely to collaborate in the future are those with whom you have collaborated in the past. It's a feature called Recent Contacts, and it's also used when sending meeting invitations. One of the best attributes is that the Recent Contact list is stored locally, along with your other Contacts (don't worry, it doesn't take up much space). That means that when you're on an airplane or otherwise disconnected from the network, your Recent Contacts are still there. Once you've stopped collaborating with a person for some time, they fall off the list, making room for someone else that you're more likely to collaborate with in the future.
Dwight Morse | 6 February 2008 10:43:31 PM ET | | Comments (31)
