I'm on a foggy highway

Last night, I sat down and took a stab at my research schedule for the next few months. I'm on a foggy highway. I mostly know what questions I have to answer. I say 'mostly' here because I expect that some of my questions won't be the ones that really need answering (but I'll figure that out soon enough), and because I expect that additional questions will come to light as I answer the existing ones. But I really don't have an inkling of what the answers to those questions will look like yet.

We're in the early stages of defining the next version of Office, so the road ahead is almost entirely shrouded in fog. I'll be spending a lot of time in the next few months on the road and in my usability lab talking with users, answering my questions and learning where the road leads. The fog will lift, although perhaps by nothing more than sheer force of will.

This is my favourite part of the process. It's also the bit where I get the most nervous. If I deliver research that is flawed or incomplete ... ugh. The risk is huge. The better I do, the better Office will be in the next version (and the one after that, and the one after that, and ... ).

Consider this to be my usual plug that if you want to help define the next version of Office, you should sign up to participate in usability studies. If you're an Entourage user (especially in an Exchange environment) and in the Bay Area, you should sign up as fast as your little fingers can type. When you fill out the form, make sure that you fill in the apps you use (such as Entourage), because that's hugely helpful to me.