DonationCoder.com Software > The Getting Organized Experiment of 2009
Focuth - time management tool for IT people
mouser:
as far a name.. the good part is that it is nice and short. the bad part is that "Focuth" will likely be heard by native speakers as the way a baby would mis-pronounce "focus" .. so it gives it a kind of "kid" sound, rather than something serious.. so it might be slightly embarassing for an adult to say "Focuth" -- it sounds like you have a speech impediment lisp and are trying to say "focus" -- it's not something that is very comfortable to speak as a native english speaker.
mauzer_tim:
as far a name.. the good part is that it is nice and short. the bad part is that "Focuth" will likely be heard by native speakers as the way a baby would mis-pronounce "focus" .. so it gives it a kind of "kid" sound, rather than something serious.. so it might be slightly embarassing for an adult to say "Focuth" -- it sounds like you have a speech impediment lisp and are trying to say "focus" -- it's not something that is very comfortable to speak as a native english speaker.
-mouser (October 26, 2010, 05:50 PM)
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Mouser, thanks once again for your thoughts!
Paul Keith:
Do you really have known about this feature only after reading the manual? Or you mean this little double arrow button that displays the small description on the blue background?
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Well...it was something I was going to suggest and then I spotted it at the manual.
The double arrow button wasn't much of a factor for me when writing this observation.
I'll probably sell something else. Like synchronization between desktop\mobile versions and the web. Or maybe enhanced reporting on your productivity change.
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It's probably risky for desktop but mobile version - everyone is doing it.
I'm not a businessman though and I think you are losing a huge chunk for offering a free "uncrippled" desktop syncing app but at the same time - this is the one thing that none of your competitors to my knowledge has done. Even EverNote uses a freemium type for the desktop version.
(However there are other notetaking apps before that syncs to a server or the cloud but nothing super popular except for those that sync with Dropbox or uses RTM's api)
You mean that the term "step" sounds unfamiliar and it's better to change that to "sub-task"?
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Probably. Actually the term "step" just sounded unknown to me and I never attempted to test out what it really is outside of seeing the screenshot in the manual because I thought it was one of those "advanced" features that I just couldn't get.
You're right. I actually do not like any additional terms that a new user should learn. I meet this term many times in software todo lists but to this moment I still do not understand the difference between "today's todos" and inbox
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Inbox mostly refers to "urgent" task. It should be the same as to-dos but the way RTM works for example is that if you don't set up a schedule for your task - it will never appear on your "inbox" or "todo".
It's a chicken and egg situation. Inbox assumes your to-do is your multi-tabbed dashboard and then it all falls back to the inbox.
Yours assumes the dashboard is a catch-all "inbox" and then the to-do is what a person writes then afterwards.
DC member tomos might have a better way of explaining it. I could almost envision it as another of those Forster/Allen differences that ends up creating a similar master list of tasks but using different initial processes to achieve that end goal.
My tool, on the other side, requires you to work (much), but that work may actually improve your productivity habits (like habit to create todo lists and do what you write on them) thus making your more productive. So my service is more like a usual gym. Of course pharmaceutics is more richer industry than sport, but gyms exist and do it well.
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It's a good realistic pragmatic goal but from a marketing standpoint - it can be very hard to sell.
People generally flock to these apps with the initial hope that "this is finally it!"
BTW you may take a look at http://checkvist.com (if you are not aware of it yet). They have made a very good unstructured todo (check) list.
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Yeah, I've checked out checkvist before although I haven't monitored it.
I think I initially liked checkvist's feel among the barebones online to-do list managers until it dawned on me that I was using primarily a checklist where unlike RTM it didn't have context categories for tags, separate section for notes especially multiple notes, easy separate input of time and urls and then the whole thing just suddenly felt like a notepad with checkboxes or a less powerful MonkeyGTD.
You are right. I also used this system, however it has some lacks: the things may be lost and you do not have time tracking, and you can access them only with your computer. However in some cases this may be simpler
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Yeah, this is mostly alleviated on my side by Dropbox (although I am nearing the limit of the free version) and like I said, I also used TrackaMinute.
Mostly though I'm not a clock or dates type of guy. If there's something I need to be reminded of, I often feel that writing it down on paper is still the best.
For those types of habitual recursive tasks - I'm more of a Rootein, 42goals or Joe's Goals type of guy although I do tend to lose control most of the time and lose track of using them which is precisely why I resort to them because unlike scheduled tasks, if I take a month or year away and return to my account - it makes me feel less guilty clicking a mouse button rather than setting up a new date for the same task. (I also hate trying to estimate the amount of time a task may take)
You seem very passionate about time tracking though so you may be interested in this web service where it reverses the whole thing.
Instead of creating a time estimate, you basically archive your tasks with an estimated time.
The app will then hide the tasks but ask how much free time you currently have using set questions like (I have a day, 4 hours, etc.)
Once you answered that question - only then will the tasks meeting that requirement show up in.
I forgot the name though.
For the paper analogy, I just remembered this old Lifehacker article that uses the same marketing scheme:
http://lifehacker.com/5423523/teuxdeux-is-an-online-to+do-list-that-works-like-paper
P.S. BTW what do you think on the project's name? I'm not a native English so I wonder how does it sounds for native English speaker.
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I'm neutral on it. I get mouser's point but as far as a web user I can't help but remembering how an app called Remember the Milk turned me off because of it's name.
Then you fall back on all the other bad sounding names: Nozbe? Check"v"ist? Toodledoo-hoo... Todo"ISttt"
If anything the apps that haven't caught traction are those that sell their name as "Project Managers" or "MegaHyperPIM"
That said, it is sound advise and the reason for most of these apps not gaining ground comes from the service itself being poor but still even today I can't help but think the apps that took ground also stood apart because of their wacky names.
Focuth is a little bit rough at the end but this mostly comes down to marketing and web presence.
If you really need to switch - you'll hear it from when you actually have a decent size community and then get advertised in Lifehacker or other sites and then people express "lame" or "switch the name".
Edit: I nearly forgot to mention - I'm not a native speaker either. English is the 2nd language in my country.
erikts:
I like your web application but unfortunately I only have limited Internet connection. Keep up the good work! :Thmbsup:
mauzer_tim:
It's probably risky for desktop but mobile version - everyone is doing it.
I'm not a businessman though and I think you are losing a huge chunk for offering a free "uncrippled" desktop syncing app but at the same time - this is the one thing that none of your competitors to my knowledge has done. Even EverNote uses a freemium type for the desktop version.
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You are right regarding the risks. However as a mISV (my apps are in the profile) I got tired of dealing with cracks and problems (for users) that causes software protection so I'd probably wish to offer free apps and earn money on something non-crackable :) But at the moment earning the money isn't a priority task for the project. First of all I need to polish an idea and make the app to be really useful for people.
Probably. Actually the term "step" just sounded unknown to me and I never attempted to test out what it really is outside of seeing the screenshot in the manual because I thought it was one of those "advanced" features that I just couldn't get.
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Thanks. Will thought on it.
Inbox mostly refers to "urgent" task. It should be the same as to-dos but the way RTM works for example is that if you don't set up a schedule for your task - it will never appear on your "inbox" or "todo".
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Thanks for the explanations!
My tool, on the other side, requires you to work (much), but that work may actually improve your productivity habits (like habit to create todo lists and do what you write on them) thus making your more productive. So my service is more like a usual gym. Of course pharmaceutics is more richer industry than sport, but gyms exist and do it well.
--- End quote ---
It's a good realistic pragmatic goal but from a marketing standpoint - it can be very hard to sell.
People generally flock to these apps with the initial hope that "this is finally it!"
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Unfortunately you are absolutely right :)
You seem very passionate about time tracking though so you may be interested in this web service where it reverses the whole thing.
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I'm not passionate on the plain time tracking. I just know from my experience that setting an explicit deadline for a thing helps completing this thing. Maybe not in time. But if you haven't set a deadline the thing tends to be not completed at all :)
Instead of creating a time estimate, you basically archive your tasks with an estimated time. The app will then hide the tasks but ask how much free time you currently have using set questions like (I have a day, 4 hours, etc.)
Once you answered that question - only then will the tasks meeting that requirement show up in.
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Interesting idea. However I personally dislike that it chooses for you what things you should do the first.
http://lifehacker.com/5423523/teuxdeux-is-an-online-to+do-list-that-works-like-paper
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Interesting project. Never heard of it before. I really like its simplicity and wish Focuth would be so minimalistic and bare-bone as it is.
I'm neutral on it. I get mouser's point but as far as a web user I can't help but remembering how an app called Remember the Milk turned me off because of it's name.
Edit: I nearly forgot to mention - I'm not a native speaker either. English is the 2nd language in my country.
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Thanks for telling your point.
And once again Paul, many thanks to you and all other guys here for spending your time discussing my app.
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