Here’s Chris’ latest talk about the history of software distribution. He speaks about how software evolved from a product (SaaP) into a quote (SaaQ), a resource (SaaR), and finally a service (SaaS) between 1995 and 2020. Finally, it will become a tool (SaaT) that empowers both coders and non-coders, by combining off-the-shelf software with the individuality of customization.
https://youtu.be/UrnYKgTl184

Want to learn more about the history of software? This article dives deeper into software as a product, quote, resource, service, and tool (including the business model behind SaaT), while being less tech-focused than Chris’ talk about “The Evolution of Software Distribution”.
https://medium.com/cardstack/software-through-the-ages-7ae7b3debfd7

We have updated our 2020 roadmap!

In Q2, we focused on two tracks of development:

- Boxel: our design system for card-based UI templates and functional composition
- CatalogJS: the underlying build and software distribution system that will lead to the Card Catalog

On the design system front, we built upon the forms that can be assembled in the Cardstack Builder, extending the system significantly to include collections and threads, which are integrated with the Boxel Motion Engine. We are currently working on additional components, such as the action system and revision control.

To make sure that our building blocks solve real business use cases, we apply the Boxel components and our data model (enabled by the Cardstack Hub) to various POCs and usage scenarios.

We will circulate examples of the user experience we are creating, as we transition from the UX layer to a full-stack implementation, using the latest Cardstack Hub.

A blog post explaining our progress in more detail will be published soon.

This blog post dives into the details of the roadmap update we posted last week—specifically Boxel (our design system) and CatalogJS (the underlying build and software distribution system). Find out what we’ve accomplished this year, what we’re currently working on, and what our plans are for the future. https://medium.com/cardstack/catalogjs-boxel-design-system-efd1e86fb88a

Introducing the Cardstack Membership System: In this article, we give our community an overview of all the different badges that members will be able to acquire in the Cardstack network. There are numerous ways to participate in growing the ecosystem and earn corresponding rewards—whether it is as a Card Stacker, Card Maker, or Card Member.
https://medium.com/cardstack/the-cardstack-membership-system-a6b55731b81b

Get ready to meet the Cardstack Workflow!

What would you prefer: 10 tools for 1 workflow—or 1 tool for 10 workflows?

Currently, people need many different tools to accomplish their work. One app for messaging, one for document sharing, another one for task management, a separate one for transactions… The list goes on and on. Each tool is from a different SaaS company, requires its own login, and is a silo that doesn’t interact with any of the other tools. Put simply: It’s a pain. Getting work done is much harder than it should be.

That is why we have been working hard to create a powerful workflow system to end the chaos. Essentially, the Cardstack Workflow puts cards in motion, enabling users to act on those cards and exchange them between each other easily—all within one system that can be extended for individual needs.

Users will no longer have to split up their work into 10 different apps, all of which do different things and don’t talk to each other. Instead, they can do all their work in one place, managing their multi-layered and multi-faceted workflows with one multi-functional tool.

In the past few weeks and months, we improved the visual & motion design of the Cardstack Workflow, aligning this multi-party workflow system with the look & feel of our Boxel Design System, so as to offer users an exciting, seamless, and composable experience.

In the next couple of weeks, we will introduce you to the various concepts that we have combined to make this system truly special, using the example of an Ebook Editing workflow.

All in one: Chat, Email & Tasks

Don’t you love Slack and Telegram? They let you chat. You can have real-time conversations with your friends, colleagues, partners, or clients—exchanging messages and emojis to your heart’s content. But that’s it.

Don’t you love email? You can send files. And your inbox tells you at a glance which emails are new, which ones are important, and which ones you don’t have to worry about right now. But that’s it.

Don’t you love Asana and Trello? They give you tasks. You can check off the items on your to do list, while keeping track of your progress on different projects. But that’s it.

Granted, those are great apps. They’re good at what they do. The problem is, the thing they do is all they do. Your emails don’t convert themselves into tasks. You chats don’t sort themselves into categories. Your tasks don’t have live chats attached.

So what if there were a tool that gave you the benefits of chat, email, and tasks combined? A well-organized, straightforward, real-time workflow system, where you can send messages and attachments between multiple participants or organizations, while simultaneously completing all related tasks?
All features in one tool: Meet the Cardstack Workflow!

Let’s talk about the Queue

Your email inbox is great. It helps you prioritize, as it sorts your emails into categories. But does it tell you when there’s something that you need to do? Not so much.

Your Cardstack Workflow queue not only sorts your messages and gives you informative previews—it actually tells you if there is a task for you inside a thread, or that you’re blocking an entire workflow.

Take these categories, for example:
- Unread: “There’s a new message in this thread. Read it!”
- Need Response: “We’re waiting for you to take an action. Go click that button already!”
- Recent Activity: “Nothing for you to do right now. Feel free to take a nap.”

If you expand your queue, you get a full-screen view with even more categories, where you can put messages that annoy you or the ones that are no longer relevant.

Your queue is also searchable. And you can have a separate queue that’s shared among your team.

But most importantly, it’s the place where you click on a queue item to open a thread. In our example, let’s open the thread of an Ebook Editing workflow.

=> more on threads coming up

Let’s talk about Threads & Workflows

You simply click on a queue item to open the corresponding thread.

Now, your typical message thread in Telegram or Discord has a few participants and a bunch of chat messages, possibly with an attachment or smiley face here and there. But there is much more to this thread.

For one thing, it is not only a simple conversation. It can be a formal workflow between multiple participants—a step-by-step process with milestones, actions / buttons, reminders, and progress updates.

Secondly, both the thread itself and individual messages can be annotated with tasks. You can assign them to yourself or to your colleagues, if it’s their turn to finally do some work.

In this example, the thread is an Ebook Editing workflow—with messages to send, buttons to click, tasks to complete, and milestones to reach through the collaboration of author and editor.

=> more on participants next week

Let’s talk about Participants

A thread between several parties is like group DM—but one that connects people from inside and outside your organization.

Of course, participants of a thread can be from the same community, like author and editor in our Ebook Editing workflow. But they could also be from different organizations, like representatives from two or more companies who share a workflow for a collaborative project.

A Cardstack Workflow makes it possible to send messages, transfer cards, and assign tasks across organizations—with visibility settings playing an important role. For instance, if you add participants at a later point, you get to choose how much they see: Do you want them to be able to catch up and see the entire thread history? Or do you want them to see only messages sent after they have joined? Either way, you can adjust the settings according to your needs.

=> more on messages coming up

Let’s talk about Messages & Versioned Attachments

The messages inside a thread are similar to emails and chat messages—but without the headache. No need to send 25 files back and forth, because each version of your document is a separate attachment with a different name (“final.doc” / “final1.doc” / “final2.doc” / “finalfinal.doc” / FINAL.doc”). Instead, you can attach and exchange the same card as often as you like, even while you’re editing it collaboratively—because this attached card is alive and remembers its version history.

And when it’s your turn to act on the card, you will be asked to take an action, e.g. by a bot who points you to the button that you need to click.

=> more on actions coming up

Let’s talk about Actions

Take an action, reach a milestone. That’s the basic idea.

But it’s a little bit more complicated, because there are different kinds of actions—typically in the form of buttons you can click:

1. Required actions that you have to complete in order to move the workflow forward. These actions are needed to check off a milestone.
For example, in an Ebook Editing workflow:
- You have to share your manuscript with your editor if you want his help to edit it.
- You have to submit your manuscript if you want to publish it.

2. Suggested actions that you can (but don’t have to) take. These actions are optional because they aren’t needed to reach a milestone; they normally don’t affect the current workflow. For example:
- You could click to revise your manuscript after you have submitted it.
- You could click to view your published ebook on the publishing platform when the workflow is completed.

=> more on milestones next week

Let’s talk about Milestones

As you move through your workflow step by step, the system tracks your progress until you reach the final milestone and the workflow is completed.

Let’s look at the example of our Ebook Editing workflow between author and editor:

You’re the author. You want the editor’s help to make your book really great. So, the nice bot asks you to share your manuscript with your editor (see “Required actions” in Friday’s post). Good author that you are, you click the “Share Manuscript” button. Now, your action
- embeds your manuscript card in the workflow, so your editor can access it,
- checks off your first milestone,
- adds the corresponding “Milestone reached” notification to the workflow,
- updates the status of your project via progress wheel, and
- triggers the next action —in this case, a prompt for your editor to start editing your manuscript (this prompt is visible to him only).

Of course, not all milestones are reached that easily. They may require more than one click (and the completion of more than one task) to accomplish the desired check mark....

=> more on tasks coming up

Let’s talk about Tasks

Tasks in the Cardstack Workflow system are like tasks on Asana or Trello, but they are much more useful—because they are directly associated with your different workflows!

Tasks can not only be added to your personal or shared to-do list like they can everywhere else, but to a message thread as well—even to individual messages, attachments, or actions inside that thread. A colorful pointer in the thread tells you immediately what your task is about, which message it concerns, which card you need to look at, or which button you have to click. Meanwhile, you can use the expandable task list at the top to keep track of all tasks related to that thread.

Any participant can assign tasks inside a thread. You can add a task for someone else —e.g. to let your editor know that you need him to look at your outline before you can continue. Or you can add a task for yourself that only you can see—e.g. to remind yourself to check out the link to the stock image library your editor has sent you for your cover art. And once you’ve completed a task, you can check it off with one click, as you would on Asana or Trello.

In addition, there are tasks a nice bot can assign. Those are tasks you should look out for, because they are tied to required actions and tell you that someone (maybe even you) is blocking the workflow. For example, only when you’ve clicked the “Share manuscript” button (thus shared your manuscript with your editor) can the editing workflow continue.
Very convenient feature: You don’t need to check off system-generated tasks manually. They are automatically resolved once you have clicked the button that the bot asked you to click.

This is what the expanded task list at the top of a thread could look like.

The tasks for the thread are divided up into 3 sections:
- Assigned to me
- Pending response
- Completed

For context, you can just click on a task in the list, and your click will take you directly to the corresponding message in the workflow.

=> more on related workflows coming up