Fixing Group Events in Google Calendar by Mark
January 19, 2009 in Interaction Design, Sparks with 6 Comments
Group events are a mess in Google Calendar. I have 9 instances of the same event!
We use hosted Google Apps here in the office, putting Gmail, Docs, and Calendar to full use nearly every day. It makes sharing documents, conversations, and event/meeting tracking a breeze. It really streamlines our efforts and is not a bad experience overall.
But, I have one gripe that I've never gotten over: the way Google Calendar handles events in the month view attended by multiple people—group events.
The problem arises from sharing calendars with the team: everyone one of shares our calendar with the others. That means we see an instance of an event for every calendar, making for very busy looking days. If five people are attending a meeting, then I see it five times on my calendar—an instance per attendee. That makes for not only a very poor user experience, but a very confusing one, too.
So how do we fix it?
I've been telling myself over and over again that I'd like to see this addresses with the next update of Google Calendar, and the solution (from an interaction and design standpoint) is relative simple. Condense each event to a single instance when sharing calendars.
Better group events in Google Calendar with all event instances combined into one.
I've condensed each event into a single instance in this mockup, making for a much simpler look at your day. Before, I would have seen several instances of the same event, but now I see one event with the people also in attendance below that. When no others are listed below the event, I can assume that I'm the only one attending (out of everyone I'm sharing calendars with).
In addition to simply condensing each event into one instance, I amped up group attendance through by using simple opacity and text strike. For those who are not attending, a strike appears through their name. Those who have unconfirmed are light gray, while those who are confirmed are the darkest. Again, all the attendance information can be seen at a glance and on a single instance.
This updated view of days in Google Calendar helps to (visually) streamline my day, and can do the same for my teammates. It's hard work deciphering what's going on in my day with so much noise. This shows me only the relevant stuff, saves me time and effort, and makes Google look all the wiser.
6 Comments
Hunter says:
Mark, thanks for the insights. I've experienced this frustration quite a few times myself. In fact, I missed not two-- but three bar fights last week at Katie Blooms due to the confusion.
Kaitlin says:
YES! This is my main gripe with Google Calendar! I want to create events to share with family/friends (akin to office events) whose calendars I can see without seeing the same event multiple times (how ANNOYING). I really hope someone comes up with this...
Vince says:
So is this an app you created that rehashes the calendar data, or just a graphic machup of what google should do? This is a big problem.
Another similar problem, is how do you share a calendar, and get that calendar to show up on everyone elses's calendar, without typing in each person's name individually? sharing it to a mailing list does not have the same effect.
Mark says:
@Vince: Unfortunately this really is just a mockup! We're hoping that the problem gets addressed in an update for Calendar. Streamlining the sharing features would also go a long way to help improve the experience. I still think it's a little annoying that I can't embed or share a private calendar (only public).
Still, it is a nice tool to have, just with some red flags on a few key pieces.
oracle services hedge fund says:
Hey You Good stuff, It might just work, although it seems easier when you have a plan.
bottle king says:
You would think that they world have OKd it at teh beginning instead of allowing it to go so long without saying a thing and then bringing it back up when it was too late. yours truly dont understand it at all.
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