Three Egregious Outlook Problems

Originally posted 2010-03-31 10:37:09

My workplace uses the Outlook/Exchange juggernaut to manage email and calendars. This post doesn’t argue for or against that solution — it’s in place, it works, and it allows me to communicate and schedule my days. Rather, this post pleads for Microsoft to change three things in that platform:

1. They always mean \”manager,\” never \”manger\”
   OK, around Christmastime, someone might send out nativity scene notice, but most people are talking about managers. Outlook’s spell check doesn’t flag \”manger\” because it’s a correctly-spelled word. Outlook’s grammar checker doesn’t flag \”manger,\” presumably because, as a noun, it grammatically interchanges with \”manager.\” The Pareto principle should step in and flag \”manger.\”
2. They never mean \”pubic\”!
   Every few months, I get an email that intends to say \”public,\” but doesn’t. With apologies to any gynecological Outlook users out there, no one ever intends to say \”pubic\” in an email. I’m having trouble typing it right now–my fingers keep inserting an \”l\” to save me from embarrassment. Outlook should flag \”pubic\” every time and make users answer complex anatomy questions before sending any email that contains the word \”pubic.\”
3. All-day events should not have reminders that trigger five minutes before the event starts
   When my team members take vacations, they send all-day calendar events so we’ll all know not to look for them on those days. Other all-day events land in my inbox regularly. I accept them, they’re added to my calendar, and I’m well-scheduled. My calendar syncs to my iPhone, which also serves as my alarm clock. Far too often, my iPhone screams me awake at 11:55 PM to tell me that Melba will not be showing up to work the next day. I scream back and remind myself to do a better job of turning off notifications for all-day events as they come in, but Outlook shouldn’t let you send other people midnight alarms.

I’m reading Steve Krug’s Rocket Surgery Made Easy, and I watched the 25-minute usability testing demo right before I typed this post. In the video, he asks viewers to identify the three biggest usability problems with the web site. You may disagree, but the three issues above are my list for Outlook.