Emerging groupware successes in major corporations: Studies of adoption and adaptation

Abstract

Computer support for meeting scheduling is a focus of active research in several areas, including distributed AI and intelligent agents, software engineering, and information systems. It is also of very high applied interest: After a decade of very modest success, commercial scheduling software is taking hold in some organizational settings. However, meeting scheduling is most significant for being one of the first desktop group support applications that is widely used in some large organizations. The slow acceptance of most groupware applications raised questions about the conditions under which successful use would develop. Studies of calendar use and meeting scheduling at Sun, Microsoft, and other organizations provide clear answers to the conditions under which such use can develop. In addition, differences in the patterns of use within and across organizations provide further insight into the relationship between a widely-used technology and the behaviors that accompany it. Relatively minor choices in the way gronpware is rolled out could have substantial impact on the way it is used.