Taskify App -- Global Task Manager with integrated Payments

[Melvin Carvalho]

Hi All

I've put together some early documentation for the task manager app that I'm working on

https://github.com/taskify/taskify/wiki/User-Stories

Features I'd like to include

- Ultra fast task management
- Integrated payment system (either for reputation or real money)
- Many possible UIs including "minority report" style projection
- Clean Modular design with remote sync inc. unhosted style

The user stories should hopefully explain what it can do, and I've almost finished coding an early prototype.

Feedback welcome!

[Melvin Carvalho]

I've added a feature list and an alpha implementation

https://github.com/taskify/taskify/wiki/Features

The remote storage functionality actually does work for private, shared, and public task lists, which may interest some here ...

** Disclaimer ** this is still very alpha and aspects of the data may change, so dont use for anything mission critical

[Michiel de Jong]

On Fri, Nov 9, 2012 at 8:19 PM, Melvin Carvalho
<melvinc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The remote storage functionality actually does work for private, shared, and
> public task lists, which may interest some here ...

cool! can you publish the code? the github repo only has the readme,
and the demo site doesn't seem to have the remotestorage functionality
yet afaics.

[Melvin Carvalho]

Current code should be here:

https://github.com/taskify/taskify.github.com

 

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[Melvin Carvalho]

Demo at

http://taskify.org

Next thing im working on are the distributed integrated points system (can be any currency)
 

 

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[Nick Jennings]

On Sat, Nov 10, 2012 at 10:52 AM, Melvin Carvalho
<melvinc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Demo at
>
> http://taskify.org

Looks really great Melvin! I'm very much looking forward to being able
to use this.
One thing, in each task/box, in the top left, there's a number, which
changes if you star or !mportant it. It's not very obvious what that
number means.

[Melvin Carvalho]

Hi Nick!

Yes Im sorry the docs are a bit light as the app is only about a weeks worth of work so far.

But this boils down to the classic 2x2 matrix of importance/urgency.  If you know Randy Pausch or are interested in time management, this is a great video/explanation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTugjssqOT0

(1.5 million views!)

Feedback appreciated (already noted and taskified) ... I'll add something to the docs/UI  :)

PS if you've never seen Randy Pauch's Last Lecture, It's a gem (15m views!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
 

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[Nick Jennings]

Great talks Melvin, thanks for sharing, I got a lot out of them

> --
>
>
>

[Tamas Herman]

I'm just half way into the 1st talk but I'm already grateful.
Thanks Melvin for sharing.

The feature/user-story github pages are also very comprehensive at 1st
glance, but I also feel it a bit convoluted in the light of Mark
Forster's "Final Version aka AutoFocus" system. What is your opinion
about that system?
( http://markforster.squarespace.com/ )

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tom

[Melvin Carvalho]

Thanks for sharing, I have looked at a few methodologies, including GTD, and I read a lot on the neuroscience of drive vs inertia and how it relates to productivity and  procrastination.

This methodology is new to me.  I liked the following quote:

A to do list is the finest known way of ensuring that you never get to the end of your work. The proof? How often have you ended the day with more items on your to do list than you started it with? Me, I finish all my work, just about every day. And I can teach you to do the same.

Been there.  My technique against this is to try and make lists low fatigue.  The ways I've found are:

- Make it lightning fast.  A slow todo list is not worth using.  Thanks to Jan for leading the way on this with docrastinate.

- Break lists into smaller tasks, using logic trees you can work out the next actionable item from a more complex task

- Do not let your list grow too bid.  Or you just wont want to look at it (see above).  I find 6 items is getting to the limit of where fatigue begins.  Consequently breaking things into task trees (or even a task web) becomes very helpful.   Im inspired by the following quote:

- Try to create dashboards that are strategically organized.  Things with information and pointers that are interesting to look at.

- Try to create a system of high trust.  Something where you feel entry is easy and that nothing falls through the gaps.  Allow it to give you reminders.

- *work in progress* try to add a social element -- Astrid is the most popular todo list app on android and has cues such as 'These 4 people are counting on you to finish this task'. 

- *work in progress* create AI robots that will constantly curate your list for important items, helping you to prioritize, search and remember the thing you need doing

“I have always lived my life by making lists: lists of people to call, lists of ideas, lists of companies to set up, lists of people who can make things happen. Each day I work through these lists, and that sequence of calls propels me forward.”

--Richard Branson -- 6 secrets to productivity

Am constantly iterating on the user stories, thanks for the feedback.  Hopefully as the system improves more will become self evident and I'm planning some screencasts too.

I'm interested in Mark Foster, could you possibly summarize some of the key points, or provide pointers, if you have some?
 

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  tom

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[sindikat]

I used Autofocus and other Forster's systems for a long time.

Ideally you should use Autofocus 1 for storing a pool of tasks (it can
be very long, i use Emacs Org-mode for that) and Do It Tomorrow for
doing the daily batch of tasks. Mainly, you use Autofocus techniques to
select tasks, which you then put on a closed list for tomorrow. Autofocus 1 is the first out of 4
Autofocus versions; there were also several SuperFocus versions and now
a Final Version (in which i'm not interested at all). It can be found
here: http://markforster.squarespace.com/blog/2009/1/6/autofocus-system-instructions.html

Do It Tomorrow is Forster's book, can be found here -
http://www.amazon.com/Tomorrow-Other-Secrets-Time-Management/dp/0340909129/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352732272&sr=8-1&keywords=do+it+tomorrow
- but there are
plenty of summaries of the method on the Net.

[Melvin Carvalho]

Thanks for the pointer ... I've been reading through this.

It's funny I used to use the pen and paper method about 20 years ago.  At one point I did also use emacs for this. 

Some comments.

I think the system as a whole adds value.

The review and prioritize process is well suited to a mobile phone, which is less good at data entry.

AutoFocus and GTD both have the concept of data capture .. ie storing new ideas as the come to you.

25 items per page I've come to find can be a bit overwhelming.  Id be interested to hear how you manage with long lists.

One smart thing is the dismiss methodology of autofocus.  I do this a lot, but perhaps not so much in such a sweeping manner.

I could easily program something like this into taskify (it's just a client skin) ... two other areas I think will add value are the scoring/payments system that lets you quantify your work ... and the social system which brings people together.

Thanks for sharing this ... some of autofocus could be ideal in a dashboard/prioritization/pruning aspect.
 

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[Melvin Carvalho]

On 11 November 2012 04:46, Tamas Herman <herma...@gmail.com> wrote:

I just noticed that astrid is actually GPL2

https://github.com/todoroo/astrid

Might be a good starting point for an android native app.
 

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  tom

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