Decision Follow Up Using Task Management and Semi-structured Messages

Presently, organizational scenarios demand employees to exchange and obtain information from various sources to accomplish their duties. Said in other words, there is an increasing need for team work, for collaboration and for coordination. One aspect of this scenario that has been under investigation for decades concerns the decision making process, especially the use of decision support systems. However, very little has been done regarding the decision implementation phase, in particular about decisions made in meetings. This work analyses the concepts related to this problem looking at it from the viewpoints of Decision Support Systems and the Computer Supported Cooperative Work. We visit the literature and related work in both areas and show how they evolved to the state-of-the-art, and how decision implementation was not often included in the various initiatives. After that, we define the focus of our own approach and scope, and propose a solution based on automated mechanisms to assist the activities of formalizing the meeting cycle (i.e. pre-meeting, meeting and post-meeting phases), representing decisions explicitly, and obtaining follow ups through an integrated approach based on task management and e-mails exchange. We present the conceptual model and theories that were the basis of our research and show how we have implemented them as an extension of a Document Management System. Finally, we discuss the evaluation realized with the system and the results obtained. We conclude this document pointing out the added value of our approach, the limits we had to deal with along the process and we indicate some directions for future research. A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S Every journey starts with a first step. Thus, I believe this work started a long time ago, probably motivated by my early Science classes while I was at Escola Viva and CEN, both in Brazil. It was there, where my curiosity grew; where I wanted to understand everything. The years passed, I grew up and there I was, starting my research in Rio. I was still curious, but more “modest”, since I did not want to understand everything anymore, “just” CSCW. A little later and I took a big step, and moved to Germany, where almost all the concrete parts of this thesis were realized. There I learned a few things about CSCW. I have also learned that a Ph.D. thesis starts on a large scale, then it gets focused, and if it is possible, focuses even more. and here I am, with about 200 pages. I guess I still have some lessons to learn! Years went by and there it was time for a new move to the USA, where I have finalized this work. And now I can see I am still curious, “Gott sei Dank”, but more conscious that I can only understand a few things—and that is already a lot. This thesis is the result of this process. In a world full of information, I ask the question: what is the relevance of my PhD thesis? Independent of the answers to this question, which may vary, all these years were very relevant to me. I gained a lot, but I also lost a lot. I had to deny many things and moments with beloved ones, and I questioned in various occasions if it was worth it. Here we are! Therefore, I would like to use this space to apologize for my lack of attention and time, and to thank all of you who helped me overcome the barriers to arrive here today. Prof. Matthias Jarke thank you for supporting my stay at FIT and in Aachen, for encouraging my Ph.D. ideas, for the opportunities in conferences, and mainly for helping me get to the end of this thesis. Prof. Wolfgang Prinz thank you for all your support over these years! Since our first meeting at CSCW 2000 you have provided me with great opportunities, interesting conversations and thoughtful comments, motivation whenever necessary, and all these factors have contributed to help me make my dreams come true. Prof. Carla Simone thanks for the interesting exchanges and for accepting being one of my evaluators. Markus, my dearest, thanks for the shared coffees, beautiful smiles, support, conversations and mainly, for your love. Mae, pai, meus irmaos Jackson e Mac, eu sem voces, nao sei nem por que. porque sem voces simplesmente nao faria sentido! (Mom, dad, my brothers Jackson and Mac, without you I would not know the reasons, because without you there would be no reasons! ). My nieces: Isabella, Maria Victoria and Raquel, I hope I assist you in seeing how important it is to believe your dreams can come true. Your smiles are my inspiration! Thanks for loving me even when I am a “disappearing aunt”. I would like to especially thank four friends of mine, four women, who also hold a Ph.D., and have provided me with the spiritual energy to finish this work. I guess they do not know how important their examples were and are for me! Ana Regina C. da Rocha, Elaine Raybourn, Claudia Gama and Kathia Marcal: you were present (in my thoughts, most of the time, but also physically sometimes) in every good and difficult moment I had to finish this thesis. When I got a step done, I was smiling and thinking of you four! When I was thinking “I cannot do it anymore. ” I was remembering our exchanges and your own strengths and using them as examples to keep me going further. Last and definitely, not least, I would like to thank the support of all my friends and colleagues, who have contributed to this process in various ways: Prof. Marcos Borges for the support, discussions and opportunities which helped me start my Ph.D. research, grow, and finish this work. John Koh thanks for helping me with the implementation, ideas, discussions and cultural exchanges. Christian Schmitt thanks for helping with our cute report! Deivyd, thanks for the distant assistance during the weekends! From Brasil: Vo Creuza, Tia Inez, Tia Regina, Tia Rose-May, Catarina, Aninha (Cog), Beto (BBB), Debora Matos, Jorge, Monica Ferreira, Bruno, Carla Delgado, Simone, Hugo, “WEB-RSL” :-), Pedro Paulo, Geraldo, Nicolas, Mariella, Ze Maria e Flavia. From Europe: Ana, Dado, Lucia, Luciano, Jasmina, Kresimir, Alexander, Jasminko, Claudia, Rolf, Martin, Christoph, Gauri, Fabio, Jalusa, Ohm, Gernot, Ismael, Yone, the Multi-Culti group, Benoit and Marcello! From my time at FIT-CSCW: Gabi, Peter Seuffert, Herr Hermann, Uta (especially for your availability and support during the evaluation phase, many thanks! ), Wolfgang Grather (for all your support and various discussions at the famous “Bonn Gout”), Elke, Thomas Koch, Leonie, Tom Gross, Gerry, Karl-Heinz, Rudolf (vielen, vielen Dank! ), Gerd, Wolfgang Appelt, Sabine, Konrad, Thomas Kreifelts, Peter Mambrey, Irma, Jan, Wido, and all the others for their smiles, the joint lunchs and their friendly "Guten Tag! ". How could I forget the glasses of Kolsch we drank together? From FIT-ICON: Barbara, Reinhard, Marcus K. , Marcus S. , Markus E. , and Milos thanks for the shared moments and for the support you gave to me in the evaluation phase! From the RWTH: Hoeppi, Aida, Michalis, Dominik L. , Ralf, Christoph, Tatiana and Reinhard for the assistance over the months I worked with you!