I once had a system in which I was writing checkboxes on paper for tasks I wanted to do regularly.
Stuff like eating vitamins, or doing backups of my server.
It started with the typical daily/weekly/monthly todos, but it gradually evolved into something much less rigid, and calculated in a (increasingly complex) spreadsheet.
For a long time, I’ve been working out the balance between this system being forgiving...
(as in, allowing for soft recovery, rather then being hit by “do 12 hours of jogging” after a week of vacation)
and also giving you accountability over a longer period
(as in, avoiding the “I’ll skip it this week, and instead definitely do it next week” effect).
I’ve also recently had the idea to publish some Android apps, and one of the first ideas was to code a cleaner, leaner and meaner version of my old spreadsheet.
As far as productivity apps go, this is very basic stuff, but I haven’t actually found anything out there that could replace my system.
I have been trying out systems for a while now. So has Regex and various others.
The introspective thing that I have noticed, and you mentioned here without clearly identifying it is the iterative development of systems. Which is to say that you started on paper, and moved to spreadsheet and after moved to an app (as well as probably several versions of each).
What makes the final version work in the face of potential complexity of starting a new system (and taking a leap) is partly the fact that you lived through the various versions, and know why/how/whatFor different factors have changed to improve the system (such is the pure nature of iterative system development).
HOWEVER by publishing only your final version you only publish the (probably very good) system that you are used to, and not all the intermediate steps that made it possible and necessary to get to here. While I imagine that every possible latest system so far developed by many many various people (Productivity Ninja, GTD, FVP to name a few), will have good features and functionality that are neat of themselves, without the iterative stages, you don’t really give people the same final system that you have come to be accustomed to.
What I am saying is; I’d like to see the whole process to how you got here in the hopes of making sense of your successes/failures of systems to do what you want them to do and following that be better able to apply it to my own systems.
On top of that; a dream app would be one that starts as a simple list (like you did), and gradually offers you to add complexity to your system (like you ended up making). But in such a way as to let people progress to the final version when they need//want it.
a dream app would be one that starts as a simple list (like you did), and gradually offers you to add complexity to your system
I like your analysis of this issue, though I think in this particular case the app actually remains very simple.
If you only use the “do it every N days” type of tracking, you get pretty much just a list like the ones I used to have on paper.
One thing I’m definitely seeing more clearly after reading your comment is that if I ever want to add more complexity to this app, I’ll instead make a new app that will be the “next step in evolution”.
(this doesn’t apply to UI improvements of course, which the app still needs a lot)
I’d like to see the whole process to how you got here in the hopes of making sense of your successes/failures of systems
Haha, this calls for a long evening in front of a fireplace :)
I think you’re coming on a little strong in ways you don’t intend for requesting his process and previous system iterations. This reads as if you should never share any system without also sharing the process of how to get there, and most of the time that is filled with stuff no one really needs to see.
yes. okay. What I mean to say is that there is a whole lot of value in with the rest of the system generation process that is missing here. Value that might help understand better how/why it works the way it does and consequently how to make it work for one’s self.
I think your app is great! I am also the kind of person to get really excited about new productivity apps that have that one cool trick that makes it different from other apps, so I might not be a good gauge on how well your app would be received, but yea, I love it.
The only other self tracking app I have used is Beeminder. My only gripe about Beeminder is that everything is linear, if you do 10 units more you are 10 ahead, if you miss 10 units you are now 10 units behind. I have always wanted some sort of discounting for being ahead, and some sort of sped up recovery for being behind, and I think your app does this well.
Was I able to use the app successfully to increase my tasks by 50%? No. But I wont blame it on the app.
I found that manually clicking next day was something I did not like. The temptation to delay clicking it and catch up the next day is strong. If it were automatic I would have to live with the consequences of getting a bad score. Furthermore if you accidentally clicked next day before before updating other tasks, then too bad, you cant reverse. So for testing I made a few tasks and advanced it several days, but unless I reinstall the app, the date can not roll back for when I want to stop testing and use it for real.
There is no way to easily see your progress for the last few days. It would be nice to click on the task and see how you did recently or if I missed a few days to see when was the last time I did the task. Sure there is an export button but the data is hard to read if you just want to know quickly how you did recently.
Thanks a lot; I’ll this it into account, and think how to improve this in next versions.
Though with the “next day” button, it would be a hard tradeoff—you might not have had this experience, but sometimes you travel and your timezone settings get messed up, or your phone’s clock is reset etc. It’s possible to design something that would avoid these problems, but it’s a pretty big change in the internals of the app.
The temptation to delay clicking it and catch up the next day is strong.
This is surprising to me—the algorithm in the app makes it strictly easier to catch up when you click the button first, and then do the tasks rather than the other way around. Is it not enough incentive to make you want to click the button, rather than “cheat”?
I think it is about the don’t break the streak thing. Suppose that you decide to run every day, and you do it in the morning every day from Sunday to Thursday, then sleep in and don’t have time for it on Friday. Now on Saturday you can either advance the day before your run and have a one day streak, or you can run twice, once before and once after advancing the day and have a seven day streak.
I have not used it since testing it out. No change to how I feel about the app, I just haven’t used any self tracking apps recently. I use Trello as a general to do app, which lacks regular occurrence task tracking. I will move meditation and gym tasks to Hastewurm and report back in 2 weeks. Both these tasks are things I wished I did more by about 50%.
My commitment to report back will probably result in increased likelihood of me sticking to this goal, but I could nonetheless try to be mindful of my bias, and provide some feedback on efficacy and or improvements.
Export data....why? Like, what other device are you going to load this data on? You’ve got your task tracker on your phone...and its records go where else?
I mean, more features = more good, but I’m just curious about the use case here.
I carry my phone around a lot. I might lose my phone or it might get stolen.
I also don’t want to be locked into a single application. Especially when testing a new software. I want to keep my data and not be bound to a single service.
For introspection/QS purposes it’s also good to have the data in a way where I can analyse it further.
For example I log all calls and all pomodoros I do to a Google calendar. Otherwise most of my data goes to Evernote.
I once had a system in which I was writing checkboxes on paper for tasks I wanted to do regularly.
Stuff like eating vitamins, or doing backups of my server.
It started with the typical daily/weekly/monthly todos, but it gradually evolved into something much less rigid, and calculated in a (increasingly complex) spreadsheet.
For a long time, I’ve been working out the balance between this system being forgiving...
(as in, allowing for soft recovery, rather then being hit by “do 12 hours of jogging” after a week of vacation)
and also giving you accountability over a longer period
(as in, avoiding the “I’ll skip it this week, and instead definitely do it next week” effect).
I’ve also recently had the idea to publish some Android apps, and one of the first ideas was to code a cleaner, leaner and meaner version of my old spreadsheet.
As far as productivity apps go, this is very basic stuff, but I haven’t actually found anything out there that could replace my system.
So lo and behold.
It’s still kinda maybe not feature complete, but I already use it myself (and I’ve finally retired the spreadsheet :D):
If you like this sorta stuff, give it a try and let me know what you’d like to see improved.
Saying all this without actually seeing the app
I have been trying out systems for a while now. So has Regex and various others.
The introspective thing that I have noticed, and you mentioned here without clearly identifying it is the iterative development of systems. Which is to say that you started on paper, and moved to spreadsheet and after moved to an app (as well as probably several versions of each).
What makes the final version work in the face of potential complexity of starting a new system (and taking a leap) is partly the fact that you lived through the various versions, and know why/how/whatFor different factors have changed to improve the system (such is the pure nature of iterative system development).
HOWEVER by publishing only your final version you only publish the (probably very good) system that you are used to, and not all the intermediate steps that made it possible and necessary to get to here. While I imagine that every possible latest system so far developed by many many various people (Productivity Ninja, GTD, FVP to name a few), will have good features and functionality that are neat of themselves, without the iterative stages, you don’t really give people the same final system that you have come to be accustomed to.
What I am saying is; I’d like to see the whole process to how you got here in the hopes of making sense of your successes/failures of systems to do what you want them to do and following that be better able to apply it to my own systems.
On top of that; a dream app would be one that starts as a simple list (like you did), and gradually offers you to add complexity to your system (like you ended up making). But in such a way as to let people progress to the final version when they need//want it.
I will look at the app and get back to you.
I like your analysis of this issue, though I think in this particular case the app actually remains very simple.
If you only use the “do it every N days” type of tracking, you get pretty much just a list like the ones I used to have on paper.
One thing I’m definitely seeing more clearly after reading your comment is that if I ever want to add more complexity to this app, I’ll instead make a new app that will be the “next step in evolution”.
(this doesn’t apply to UI improvements of course, which the app still needs a lot)
Haha, this calls for a long evening in front of a fireplace :)
I think you’re coming on a little strong in ways you don’t intend for requesting his process and previous system iterations. This reads as if you should never share any system without also sharing the process of how to get there, and most of the time that is filled with stuff no one really needs to see.
yes. okay. What I mean to say is that there is a whole lot of value in with the rest of the system generation process that is missing here. Value that might help understand better how/why it works the way it does and consequently how to make it work for one’s self.
I think your app is great! I am also the kind of person to get really excited about new productivity apps that have that one cool trick that makes it different from other apps, so I might not be a good gauge on how well your app would be received, but yea, I love it.
The only other self tracking app I have used is Beeminder. My only gripe about Beeminder is that everything is linear, if you do 10 units more you are 10 ahead, if you miss 10 units you are now 10 units behind. I have always wanted some sort of discounting for being ahead, and some sort of sped up recovery for being behind, and I think your app does this well.
How is it after a week? Do you still use it?
Update:
Was I able to use the app successfully to increase my tasks by 50%? No. But I wont blame it on the app.
I found that manually clicking next day was something I did not like. The temptation to delay clicking it and catch up the next day is strong. If it were automatic I would have to live with the consequences of getting a bad score. Furthermore if you accidentally clicked next day before before updating other tasks, then too bad, you cant reverse. So for testing I made a few tasks and advanced it several days, but unless I reinstall the app, the date can not roll back for when I want to stop testing and use it for real.
There is no way to easily see your progress for the last few days. It would be nice to click on the task and see how you did recently or if I missed a few days to see when was the last time I did the task. Sure there is an export button but the data is hard to read if you just want to know quickly how you did recently.
Thanks a lot; I’ll this it into account, and think how to improve this in next versions.
Though with the “next day” button, it would be a hard tradeoff—you might not have had this experience, but sometimes you travel and your timezone settings get messed up, or your phone’s clock is reset etc. It’s possible to design something that would avoid these problems, but it’s a pretty big change in the internals of the app.
This is surprising to me—the algorithm in the app makes it strictly easier to catch up when you click the button first, and then do the tasks rather than the other way around. Is it not enough incentive to make you want to click the button, rather than “cheat”?
I think it is about the don’t break the streak thing. Suppose that you decide to run every day, and you do it in the morning every day from Sunday to Thursday, then sleep in and don’t have time for it on Friday. Now on Saturday you can either advance the day before your run and have a one day streak, or you can run twice, once before and once after advancing the day and have a seven day streak.
This perfectly expresses my thoughts
I have not used it since testing it out. No change to how I feel about the app, I just haven’t used any self tracking apps recently. I use Trello as a general to do app, which lacks regular occurrence task tracking. I will move meditation and gym tasks to Hastewurm and report back in 2 weeks. Both these tasks are things I wished I did more by about 50%.
My commitment to report back will probably result in increased likelihood of me sticking to this goal, but I could nonetheless try to be mindful of my bias, and provide some feedback on efficacy and or improvements.
I wouldn’t use an app like that without the app being able to export data.
But it does in fact have this option.
(Admittedly, the format of data is not documented, but it’s just plaintext K=V.)
Export data....why? Like, what other device are you going to load this data on? You’ve got your task tracker on your phone...and its records go where else?
I mean, more features = more good, but I’m just curious about the use case here.
I carry my phone around a lot. I might lose my phone or it might get stolen.
I also don’t want to be locked into a single application. Especially when testing a new software. I want to keep my data and not be bound to a single service.
For introspection/QS purposes it’s also good to have the data in a way where I can analyse it further. For example I log all calls and all pomodoros I do to a Google calendar. Otherwise most of my data goes to Evernote.