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The to-do list problem

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Re: The to-do list problem

#31

Post by namank »

To be effective, your to-do list should also include when and where beside the task.

The post assumes humans are bound to sense habits and gives little credit to the power to making decisions - where one can change their mind and act upon that decision.

All you need is a mental transition between the previous activity and the new activity. How? Well, the problem has existed as long as humans, so just figure out how parents convince kindergarteners to go to school, why some cultures pray before eating food (try to think beyond thankful-for-food reasons), and how famous leaders can led entire movements. The common denominator to all these will be your answer.

Re: The to-do list problem

#32

Post by nmcfarl »

nmcfarl wrote: post #21

Just last night I was thinking that Reminders needed a "remind me at sunset" option to remind me to round up the animals. As it is I have to change the time of that reminder every month. There are probably a ton of triggers that could be useful. Off the top of my head: time, location, weather, the people you are currently with (4sq checkins), current call, recent texts, or emails. I'm sure a bunch more. I'm not sure…

This article discusses what can be done with just time and location, if you just treat them with a bit more smarts: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4489121

Re: The to-do list problem

#33

Post by bluetidepro »

dkrich wrote: post #30
bluetidepro wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not saying I didn't read the article because of it but it does just start the article off with a bit of annoyance. You can't argue that anywhere you enjoy going in the online or physical world is determined by emotional responses. Imagine when you got to a restaurant that has music annoying loud. You may still enjoy the dinner food, but you had a bad experience eating the good food because you were annoyed with t…

"However, I could be wrong. I mean, everyone did love the animated images, colors, and sounds on GeoCities which lead to their industry takeover and incredible success." Let's not just assume that all annoyances are created equal. One is an integrally bad user experience, the only way out of which is to stop using the service wholesale. The other amounts to mousing-over a large area of the screen and clicking a butto…

Fair enough. I will give you that. It was a bit of a extreme on that example. But I imagine you do understand what I generally mean about the small things having the ability to add up.

Re: The to-do list problem

#34

Post by DenisM »

nmcfarl wrote: post #21

Just last night I was thinking that Reminders needed a "remind me at sunset" option to remind me to round up the animals. As it is I have to change the time of that reminder every month. There are probably a ton of triggers that could be useful. Off the top of my head: time, location, weather, the people you are currently with (4sq checkins), current call, recent texts, or emails. I'm sure a bunch more. I'm not sure…

Also, "right before I leave the house". GPS has no idea if I am going to work until after I left.

Re: The to-do list problem

#36

Post by dmethvin »

Did any of the previous commenters actually watch the video? Ignore the title, it's not about to-do lists. If you ever want to be successful at a startup, watch the video. Understand what he's saying about those three things that are required to get action from someone. Then look for his other work on Captology explaining how computers can manipulate people (in both the good and bad sense).

Seriously, WATCH THE VIDEO.

Re: The to-do list problem

#37

Post by scott_meade »

Very closely related to Fogg's behavior model of "trigger", "execution", "motivation", Charles Duhigg in "The Power of Habit" writes of the steps of the habit loop as "cue", "routine", "reward".

Habit is coming up to be a big topic in app design and development.

"The Power of Habit" is a good read which systematically lays out some science behind what habits are, how they work, and how to leverage them.

Re: The to-do list problem

#38

Post by thirdtruck »

MatthewPhillips wrote: post #5
Swizec wrote: post #2

> To build an intelligent to-do list it will take more than polished pixels, so please start putting more intelligence in your to-do tools. Your users will be thankful and will hopefully have much shorter to-do lists. After trying many things, I have now switched to Trello. Using it I've become convinced that "intelligent to-do lists" are a fallacy, what we need are dumb todo lists. Something not much smarter than a…

Trello is too big for "pick up bananas at the grocery store".

I just used it for that last week. A little clunky but manageable with the Android mobile app.

Re: The to-do list problem

#39

Post by roel_v »

MatthewPhillips wrote: post #15
roel_v wrote: post #14

Primitive version of GTD. GTD solves the issues raised in this post and more. Many todo apps work with a GTD workflow. I use Toodledo (web app) and Due Today (Android), they sync perfectly. Re-reading the GTD book every 6 months or so helps to be consistent with applying it, because the devil is in thinking 'oh I'm just going to skip this or that task for now', or not being diligent in e.g. assigning contexts. For GT…

I'm really glad that this works for you, but it sounds like hell.

Not half as bad as not having a system, and having to spend significant mental resources on keeping track of what to do, what to prioritize, when to do them, etc. Not having to think about that meta-information frees up resources to actually do things.

Re: The to-do list problem

#40

Post by chollida1 »

dkrich wrote: post #26
bluetidepro wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm glad someone beat me to this. This is the first thing I thought when I went to the post. It soured my opinion of the whole article before I even read it because of that small usability mistake.

"It soured my opinion of the whole article before I even read it" Seriously? The fact that an embedded video started playing soured your opinion of the article? Maybe you guys should chill out a bit. Sometimes comments like this lead me to believe the author wants recognition at somebody else's expense.

> Seriously? The fact that an embedded video started playing soured your opinion of the article?

Sure, what's wrong with that opinion. I don't know how you browse but when I browse hacker news I'll open up 2-3 articles and their associated comments and start reading one.

When a video starts playing in the background when I'm not even on that tab, then yes, it can sour your opinion of the entire website.

Little things matter.

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