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Elo comments on Open thread, June 20 - June 26, 2016 - Less Wrong
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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.
(Also if you happen to really like it and be generous, there's a premium version which has the same functionality but makes me more happy)
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.