yasoon

Do you leave emails in your inbox so that you don’t forget to read and answer them? Do you sometimes write emails to yourself that function as reminders? And why wouldn’t you when so many of your assignments arrive in an email or require you to contact your colleagues?

The problem: If you’re using your inbox as to-do list, it is very likely that your inbox is a mess. 

The solution: A separate task manager.

Using a separate task manager prevents you from always having to go through your emails to decide which task to tackle first, which can increase your productivity significantly. By using an isolated to-do list that is synchronized with your emails, you can restructure your inbox and have the option of prioritizing your to-dos.

Fortunately, there is Wunderlist for Outlook which synchronizes your emails with your personal to-do list directly in Outlook. You can add tasks by email and later find the message the task was based on. Use subtasks for each to-do and categorize them according to their urgency or importance. And why not integrate your team into your current project management? Share your list within your team and delegate or feedback assignments.

Take your Outlook inbox to a whole new level. 

Make your to-do list doable!

Your to-do lists are too long and chaotic? When was the last time you actually completed all of your to-dos? The 1-3-5 method can help you with that.

#bebettertogether

Wunderlist for Outlook is already amazing on its own. It gets even better when you include the people surrounding you in your daily operations. That is why we are proudly presenting the Wunderlist for Outlook Team Experience.

Once you start sharing your lists, you will see an additional feature in the Wunderlist sidebar. From now on you are able to

1.       Assign tasks to your colleagues

2.       Send feedback on shared assignments by using the comment function

3.       Track the progress by scheduling reminders

 Check out our help portal for a detailed overview on these features and explanations on how to make the most out of them: http://bit.ly/newteamexperience

We are pleased to announce our brand new Outlook for JIRA app. It was developed in close cooperation with one of our customers to offer the best usability. If you are using JIRA and Outlook, be sure to try our app at the Atlassian Marketplace.

Built on proven technology

JIRA for Outlook is our best app yet, built on years of experience. Being an Outlook-first company, our main goal is to deliver the best integrated experience. To create this experience, we teamed up with real JIRA users to learn about their daily workflows. Learning from their usage helped us to create the most advanced Outlook app for JIRA - including a news feed, the ability to quickly create issues, adding attachments and more.

The JIRA Feed

Notification e-mails

Working with the JIRA users, we experienced a lot of pain points. One of the biggest issues were the constant notification e-mails from JIRA. Even for small updates or comments, you’ll get an e-mail. Due to the huge amount, active users are often creating rules in Outlook to move them out of their inbox. This can potentially lead to missed communications. As all e-mails look the same, users are not able to prioritize them correctly. Our news feed solves this problem by structuring the information properly. Custom desktop notifications ensure no information is lost and your inbox is kept clean. On top, with the quick actions, issues can be changed easily - directly from your Outlook.

There is more!

In the coming weeks we will introduce other features in detail. Creating issues, using e-mail attachments and working with the feed will be topics to look forward to. You can already check them out at the Atlassian Marketplace.

Enjoy JIRA for Outlook!

Last week we finally shipped our huge stability release! Thanks to your feedback, error reports and a lot of patience, we now have a version that works as expected on nearly every Outlook configuration.

Even though most of the changes are below the surface, there are also some changes that affect you directly. You can find the most relevant changes below:

UI Changes

Navigation Bar:

We cleaned up our UI and fully focussed on the most important thing: your notifications. We minimized the navigation bar on top so there is more space for your personal update stream.

Alerts:

The alerts were shown at the bottom before, but we’ve moved them to the top navigation bar. Especially if you’re getting several alerts at once, it’s now much cleaner.

Synchronisation issues:

Completely new is the synchronization area next to the Alerts. It is part of our transactional synchronizations. It is only relevant if you change something that could not by synchronized immediately. E.g. you complete a task while you’re offline, you can see this pending sync.

Offline support:

We improved the use of yasoon while you’re offline.

Synchronisation

We rebuilt the way how apps synchronize their data with Outlook. Inconsistencies between your cloud app and your local Outlook should now be gone. Through the synchronisation issues on the UI it’s also much more transparent for you, if something went wrong.

  Built-in Support

We want to make it as comfortable as possible for you to get in contact with us. We finally added a built-in support tab to yasoon. Just click on the support button on the right side and send us your questions directly from yasoon. We will get in touch with a solution as fast as possible.

  For Developers: New API functions

For developers of our API we added a lot of new functionalities for tasks and calendars, but they are not yet documented. We’ll add them as soon as possible.

Just in case you’re already working with tasks and calendars and need some more functions, contact us and we’ll send you the draft of the documentation.

Preview Next Release

The next release is focussed on new functionalities. We'll add support for email & contact synchronization, Buttons and HTML Popups for more complex workflows.

With yasoon you can now upgrade your Outlook with apps – just like your mobile device. yasoon provides a powerful platform that makes it amazingly simple to extend Outlook and integrate third party software.

Outlook – more than just an e-mail and calendar tool

If you are still using Outlook you are not alone – millions use Outlook every day. Mostly to manage their e-mails and calendars. It’s often the most central part of their working hours. In our modern world with thousands of cloud services this leads to really odd workflows:

Receive a notification email from any service

Click on the provided link

Login with your credentials

Do whatever was necessary

Close Browser and delete mail

 Wouldn’t it be cool doing things like that directly within Outlook?

The Deal

We trust in our platform and we want demonstrate it to you. So here is the deal:

 You send us your idea for Outlook – we build it

We don’t want to influence you with our ideas, so surprise us with your ideas.  Nevertheless there are at least some rules:

If your idea involves a cloud service, a public API should be available

It’s not Basecamp or GitHub ( we already have apps for them)

You don’t want to charge for the idea. You give us the idea – we give you the app

You may all have experienced it before: At the very beginning of a new project, somebody mentions that it's now time to think about the technology. That's okay, as the developers want to have something to work with, start some prototyping and so on. But there are a lot of pitfalls.

When we started, we didn't always wanted to create yasoon, but an entirely different product - which is probably the case for nearly every startup. At the beginning, we wanted to get everything right. We laid out the data models, documented every little step and thought a lot about technology. Seriously. A LOT.

Coming from a big software company, we wanted to build something using "enterprise" tools, so we looked a lot into J6EE and JSF. Nobody really knew how that stuff worked, but it sounded very robust and "enterprise ready". So we decided to give it a try. We started to evaluate different JSF Frameworks that were existing at the time, like IceFaces and others. After some weeks (!) of evaluation and testing, we came to the conclusion that building the UI with JSF alone would be too ... whatever - something was not right. So we decided to try a Flex UI. Yes. Right. So we found something like GraniteDS which promised integration of "rich internet applications" (RIA) with a J6EE integration. After that "decision", we didn't go any further, because even the simplest stuff was highly complicated and we got demotivated. This was not the only problem with that project, but it took a big role in driving the team apart.

What did we learn? Don't waste too much time on trying to finding THE framework, which will be there forever and have the features you need. It does not exist. There will always be some workarounds where a frameworks has it's limits, but that's okay. Also, don't waste your time using an overblown enterprise framework right from the start, build something agile with REST and a simple JS framework. You can always switch later!

When we built the first version of yasoon, we were using very instable technology, but we got a working prototype and it helped our motivation greatly. Afterwards we switched technology and lost a good amount of work, but we had a much better idea of what the requirements to the architecture were.

So keep that in mind, you'll never get the technology right at the first try, so don't waste your time with lengthy discussions!

Is Outlook the first program you start in the morning? That's for a reason!

It’s not possible to imagine the communication in many companies without Outlook as their email client. This is mostly based on the immense flexibility Outlook offers. It includes great email-, calendar and task management capabilities. A quick look if a colleague is available for a meeting? No problem - use shared calendars. Process a mail next week without losing track? No problem as well - just flag it and set the reminder to next week.

Outlook does many things very well without getting in the way. But it's not perfect. If you keep using Outlook over several years, your inbox will grow to a huge collection of data, which is not organized the best way imaginable. It is at least an option to use folders and categories to structure mails, but a real tagging is not possible.

To this day, Microsoft was not able or did not want to position Outlook as an “information hub”, as a tool to collect and manage all information of your daily work. And yet, such a hub is needed today more than ever before. Web-based tools and services are gaining popularity quickly, especially in the area of CRM and project management. In most cases, an Outlook integration only goes as far as sending notification emails, an automatic synchronization of tasks or appointments is not even a consideration.  

We are convinced that Outlook is the best PIM-tool to date. Features as offline-availability, coordinated appointment planning or out-of-office emails are well thought out and essential in day to day business. Outlook is not sexy or fresh, but robust and reliable. We’ll take care of the rest.

Ist Outlook auch das erste Programm das du morgens startest? Das hat gute Gründe!

Aus vielen Firmen ist Outlook als Mail-Client nicht mehr wegzudenken. Dies erreicht Outlook vor allem durch seine große Flexibilität. Es ermöglicht eine gute Verwaltung von E-Mails, Kalendereinträgen und Aufgaben. Mal eben nachschauen ob der Kollege morgen Zeit für ein Meeting hat? Kein Problem –  geteilte Kalender. Eine Mail erst nächste Woche bearbeiten ohne es zu vergessen? Auch kein Problem – einfach flaggen und für nächste Woche kennzeichnen.

Outlook macht vieles richtig ohne im Weg zu sein. Allerdings ist nicht alles perfekt. Wenn man Outlook über Jahre verwendet, sammelt sich auf Dauer eine riesige Menge an Informationen an, die sich nur noch schlecht organisieren lässt. Es ist zwar möglich Mails in Ordner zu sortieren und Kategorien zu vergeben, ein richtiges „Tagging“ der Mails erlaubt Outlook aber nicht.

Microsoft hat bis jetzt die Chance verpasst Outlook als „Information Hub“ zu positionieren, also als Programm, in dem alle Informationen der täglichen Arbeit zusammen laufen und effizient verwaltet werden können. Dabei wäre ein solcher Hub heute nötiger denn je. Web-basierte Tools und Dienste werden immer häufiger verwendet, gerade in den Bereichen CRM und Projektmanagement. Eine Integration in Outlook endet aber meistens schon bei Benachrichtigungs-E-Mails, an eine Aufgaben- oder Kalendersynchronisation ist gar nicht zu denken.

Wir sind davon überzeugt das Outlook das beste verfügbare PIM-Tool ist. Features wie Offline-Verfügbarkeit, koordinierte Terminplanung oder Out-of-Office-Mails sind einfach durchdacht und im Geschäftsumfeld unverzichtbar. Outlook ist nicht sexy oder frisch, aber verlässlich. Für den Rest sorgen wir.

We are back with some good news! In the last weeks we were working extra hours to finalize the first beta version of yasoon. Today is the day: Our test version is now live!

Why beta? We tried to get all the kinks out, but we need your help. Test yasoon extensively. If you encounter any errors or inconveniences, let us know. We'll try to optimize yasoon and release a final version in the future.

In addition to our platform, we introduce two apps: Facebook and Basecamp.

Facebook

Got an invite on Facebook? With our Facebook app for yasoon you'll receive a notification instantly. It synchronizes upcoming Facebook events right into your Outlook calendar – by default as a private appointment. The best thing about this feature: You can use the RSVP function of Outlook to respond to the event directly, without logging in to Facebook. It allows you to manage all your appointments in one place.

In the yasoon feed you can see all your other Facebook notifications as well. No additional browser window. No additional login.

If you receive a message, you'll get a desktop notification too.

Basecamp

Basecamp for yasoon simplifies the collaboration between Basecamp and Outlook noticeably. Our app integrates your to-do's as Outlook tasks. If you complete or change these tasks in Outlook, the to-do is adjusted automatically in Basecamp!

The app also displays all the news from Basecamp in your yasoon feed, similar to the Facebook for yasoon app. Furthermore, for specific events we introduced quick-actions, for example assigning yourself to a task with just one click.

We baked in some other cool features as well, so go ahead and try it!

We did our best to deliver a first stable test version of yasoon. Nevertheless: If anything goes wrong, just contact us on Twitter, Facebook, or vie e-mail.

The beta download can be found on our homepage. yasoon beta is already available for Outlook 2010 and 2013.

Wir sind wieder mit Neuigkeiten am Start! In den letzten Wochen haben wir jede freie Minute in yasoon gesteckt und auf Hochtouren an der Beta-Version gearbeitet. Heute ist es endlich soweit: Unsere Testversion ist für euch online!

Was heißt Beta? Wir haben versucht alle möglichen Fehlerquellen zu finden, sind aber jetzt noch auf eure Hilfe angewiesen. Probiert yasoon ausgiebig aus. Und falls doch noch ein Fehler auftritt, sagt uns Bescheid. So können wir yasoon für euch verbessern und eine offizielle Version herausbringen.

Zusätzlich zur Plattform yasoon stellen wir euch gleich zwei Apps bereit: Basecamp und Facebook. Facebook Eine Einladung auf Facebook erhalten? Mit der Facebook App für yasoon bekommt ihr in eurem Outlook direkt eine Benachrichtigung! Sie synchronisiert anstehende Facebook-Veranstaltungen mit eurem Outlook Terminkalender – standardmäßig als privater Termin. Und das Beste: Mit der Outlook-Antwort-Funktion könnt ihr direkt zusagen, ohne euch in Facebook einzuloggen. Euere Freunde werden dann in Facebook wie gewohnt benachrichtigt. So habt ihr alle eure Termine an einem Ort.

Im yasoon-Feed habt ihr außerdem auch eure anderen Facebook-Benachrichtungen im Blick. Ohne extra Browser-Fenster, ohne zusätzlichen Log-in.

Wenn ihr eine Nachricht bekommt, wird euch dies außerdem über eine Desktop-Benachrichtung mitgeteilt

Basecamp

Basecamp für yasoon erleichtert euch die Arbeit mit Basecamp und Outlook deutlich. Unsere App integriert eure To-Do’s aus Basecamp als Outlook Aufgabe. Werden diese Aufgaben in Outlook abgeschlossen oder geändert, passt sich das Bascamp To-Do automatisch an.

Analog zur Facebook App zeigt auch Basecamp alle Neuigkeiten aus eurem Netzwerk im yasoon-Feed an. Neu ist allerdings, dass es bei bestimmten Ereignissen auch sogenannte Quick-Actions gibt. Zum Beispiel könnt ihr euch mit einem Klick der Aufgabe direkt zuordnen.

Wir haben auch noch einige andere Features für euch in petto – schaut euch die App doch einfach mal genauer an.

Wir haben uns größte Mühe gegeben euch eine stabile erste Testversion zu liefern. Sollte doch mal etwas schiefgehen, schreibt uns einfach über Twitter, Facebook oder ganz klassisch eine E-Mail.

Den Beta-Download findet ihr ab sofort auf unserer Homepage. yasoon beta gibt es bereits für Outlook 2010 und 2013.

We are developers, startup founders and from now on bloggers, too. On this blog, we will keep you posted about all the stuff around our company. Expect frequent updates about our product, methodical and technological discussions as well as insight to the crazy life as founders.

yasoon – How it all started

Before we start talking products, we would like to tell you a little bit about how yasoon came to life and how the project transformed over time.

When we started with yasoon in January 2011, it was envisioned as a social network in Microsoft Outlook. It was designed for reducing the daily e-mail overload in our inboxes. One year later, after many discussions, we decided to focus on an app-support. The reasons behind this decision were diverse, but mostly due to the already established corporate networks and our choice of technology. The combination of COM, IPC and a non-compliant Outlook-HTML-Rendering-Engine destabilized our core and made maintenance terribly complicated.

The reboot 

The motivation of our original idea is the same, but everything else changed: To clean the e-mail inbox of automatic generated content, we created an easily extendable app-platform.

This open plugin-architecture was already planned as a feature for the mentioned social network, but after we refocused, the following advantages became obvious.

We think that many of those small productivity apps which you use on your smartphone every day, could boost the productivity at work, too. Using our HTML5 and Javascript interface, we want to give developers the opportunity to skip complicated native Outlook development and to integrate their services into Outlook with minimal effort.

That’s because the Outlook-Addin development has failed us, despite the well documented Outlook API, dozen times. Simple applications can be created with average effort, but bigger enhancements or using some special feature will ensure Outlook crashes and frustrated developers. We simplify the access to the Outlook object model and create the possibility to scrap notifications mails and display the content in an integrated newsfeed.

More to come

In the following articles we will step into details: What are the advantages for the user? What about our architecture? How to develop a simple Outlook-Javascript-App?

Stay tuned and visit us again soon,

Wir sind Informatiker, Startup-Gründer und ab jetzt auch Blogger. An dieser Stelle wollen wir euch über Dinge rund um unser Unternehmen auf dem Laufenden halten. In regelmäßigen Abständen erwarten euch Updates zu unserem Produkt, methodische und technologische Diskussionen, sowie Einblicke in den täglichen Wahnsinn eines Startups. 

yasoon – Wie es begann

Bevor wir genauer auf das Produkt eingehen, wollen wir euch kurz vorstellen wie yasoon entstanden ist und wie sich das Projekt verändert hat.

Als wir im Januar 2011 mit yasoon gestartet sind, war es noch als reines soziales Netzwerk in Microsoft Outlook angedacht. Es sollte uns dabei helfen, unsere tägliche E-Mail-Flut besser unter Kontrolle zu bringen. Ein Jahr später haben wir uns allerdings nach vielen Diskussionen dazu entschlossen unseren Fokus zu ändern und auf eine App-Unterstützung zu legen. Die Gründe für diese Entscheidung waren vielfältig, aber hauptsächlich der Existenz von etablierten Corporate Networks und unserer Technologiewahl geschuldet. Eine schwer zu stabilisierende Basis aus COM, IPC und einer nicht-standardkonformen Outlook-HTML-Rendering-Engine bereiteten uns erhebliche Probleme.

Der Neustart

Die Motivation dieser ursprünglichen Idee ist geblieben, sonst hat sich vieles geändert: Mit dem Ziel den E-Mail-Eingang von automatisch generierten Nachrichten zu befreien, haben wir eine leicht erweiterbare App-Umgebung geschaffen.

Diese offene App-/Plugin-Architektur war bereits für das soziale Netzwerk als Feature angedacht, aber nachdem wir den Fokus komplett darauf richten konnten, wurden die folgenden Vorteile dieses Ansatzes offensichtlich.

Wir glauben, dass viele kleinere Produktivitäts-Apps, welche täglich auf Smartphones benutzt werden, auch im Businessbereich Mehrwert schaffen können. Wir wollen den App-Entwicklern mit unserer HTML5- und Javascript-Schnittstelle eine bequeme Möglichkeit bieten, die Hürden der Outlook-Entwicklung zu umgehen und ihren Dienst mit minimalem Aufwand auch in Outlook integrieren zu können.

Denn die Entwicklung von Outlook-Addins hat sich für uns trotz einer gut dokumentierten Outlook API schon oft als Minenfeld erwiesen. Einfache Anwendungen sind halbwegs schnell umgesetzt, größere Erweiterungen von Outlook entwickeln aber sehr schnell eine hohe Komplexität, schon beginnend bei Setup- und Updateroutinen. Wir wollten den Zugriff auf die Outlook-Objekte stark vereinfachen und gleichzeitig eine Möglichkeit schaffen, Informationsmails eine alternative Darstellung innerhalb eines Newsfeeds zu bieten.

Es kommt noch mehr…

In den kommenden Blog-Beiträgen werden wir ein wenig mehr auf die Details eingehen: Welche Vorteile bietet yasoon für den Anwender? Auf welche Architektur setzt yasoon? Wie entwickelt man eine einfache Outlook-Javascript-App?

Bleibt also dran und schaut bald wieder vorbei. Bis dahin,