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Ask HN: Have you coded any productivity software just for yourself?

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Re: Ask HN: Have you coded any productivity software just for yourself?

#81

Post by samfundev »

I have built a few different pieces of software around the idea of pacing. The idea of pacing is that if you can measure the progress of something (i.e. current/goal), you can compare that to the time progress (i.e. elapsed time/total time) to tell you how far ahead or behind you are from completing the goal in time. Basically, you can tell if you are "on pace" with any measurable goal. If you're not on pace, it can tell you how much you need to do to catch up.

I used this to write papers by putting in how many words I needed to write and how many words I had written into a web app that I made for pacing. I made a widget for my watch that shows me if I am on pace with how many steps I want to take every day. And the big one, using it to pace out when I spend time on distracting apps on my phone. If the amount of time I have spent on distracting apps is behind the pace, then I can use the app otherwise it kicks me out.

I'm sure they are more applications I haven't thought of. I haven't made the code public yet, but I could if people are interested.

Re: Ask HN: Have you coded any productivity software just for yourself?

#83

Post by swah »

rich_sasha wrote: post #65

A variation on the pomodoro timer, where you get promoted when the segment ends, but the clock keeps ticking. You have to manually move to the next segment, and the app times actual time spent per zone. This lets me use this for tracking efficiency, not just structuring the day. I also find it excessively rigid to force myself to stop a work segment on precisely 25 min tick.

What do you mean, promoted?

Re: Ask HN: Have you coded any productivity software just for yourself?

#85

Post by rich_sasha »

swah wrote: post #83
rich_sasha wrote: post #65

A variation on the pomodoro timer, where you get promoted when the segment ends, but the clock keeps ticking. You have to manually move to the next segment, and the app times actual time spent per zone. This lets me use this for tracking efficiency, not just structuring the day. I also find it excessively rigid to force myself to stop a work segment on precisely 25 min tick.

What do you mean, promoted?

s/promoted/prompted/

(Can't edit anymore)

Re: Ask HN: Have you coded any productivity software just for yourself?

#86

Post by kalonis »

I have created Bartib a time tracker for the command line: https://github.com/nikolassv/bartib. I needed something to track my activities at work. All other solutions that I tried out where too complicated as they often targeted whole teams, included accounting options that I don't need or were just an usability nightmare.

When I created Bartib I tried too keep it as simple as possible which meant for me a CLI tool. Choosing a plain text file with a really simple structure meant I didn't need to implement all features right away but could always fall back to edit the file in vim.

Re: Ask HN: Have you coded any productivity software just for yourself?

#87

Post by leeu1911 »

I created a simple to use "Pomodoro" timer that uses Pomodoro technique to improve productivity. There are tons of these out there but I only wanted some thing that's dead simple

https://github.com/LeeU1911/try-pomodoro/tree/master

Unfortunately it no longer runs on herokuapp a while ago but still could be use locally very quickly if one has `node` and `grunt` installed

Re: Ask HN: Have you coded any productivity software just for yourself?

#89

Post by mystickphoenix »

Reminded me of a tool that I created and use daily (and that I need to get back to adding some functionality to!) Among the things I need to do are... add a readme! But it's a low friction (for me) way to keep a log of what I've done. Basically just a digital notebook, inspired by the lab notebooks I saw whenever I went to my dad's chem lab when I was young and what we like software to do when it changes something. Keeping a record of what you've done has been incredibly helpful for me and I've gone back and referenced it many many times.

I happen to write in an obsidian-friendly markdown syntax but it's not enforced. Day and year headers are added automatically and each entry is timestamped.

https://github.com/bryan-lott/rust-lab-log

Re: Ask HN: Have you coded any productivity software just for yourself?

#90

Post by andsoitis »

simonsarris wrote: post #69

I programmed a garden planner just for myself, to keep track of cultivars in the orchard and rose varieties. Originally it was to let other people help me design the garden, but now I have garden design nailed down (well, for this year). https://garden.simonsarris.com/ A few people have asked me to make it generalized so they can use it too, but that might take some time. Maybe in the winter.

love the goose palace! https://map.simonsarris.com/p/the-goose-palace
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