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Show HN: The Virtual Assistant for Hackers

8 points by vuduytuananh 6y ago

vuduytuananh 6y ago
Hi all, we - developers - need to use multiple tools at work to get the job done. For example, GitHub/Gitlab/Bitbucket for version control, CircleCI for build/deploy, Jira/Asana for project management. Using multiple tools simultaneously sometimes leads to a bit overwhelming. Switching from your IDE (or main working app) to other apps or services on browsers comes with the cost of losing focus and reducing productivity. I myself experience the same problem, that's why I created Sunday Virtual Assistant (www.josunday.com) to hopefully makes our life easier by: - Connect to your apps/services (Jira, CircleCI, GitHub...) - Automate task by saving default values of your repetitive actions - Assign your task to predefined speech command - Summon your task at will via the speech command without the trade-off of losing your focus on the current work The app is available to download and all feedback, suggestions, and comments are welcome!
travisjungroth 6y ago
The app looks really cool. "Virtual assistant" usually means a human who helps you out remotely. I was surprised it was more like a chatbot with integrations.
- vuduytuananh 6y ago
  Thank you! The app is more like a Siri/Google Assistant/or Alexa but focusing on developers and potentially other occupations as well. I also did some thinking about using the term "Virtual Assistant" and found out that it - like you said - usually means people helps you out remotely. But on wikipedia, other similar AI-powered Assistant like Siri, GG Assistant, Alexa have the term "virtual assistant" in the definition. So I decided to go with it. I think Sunday is closer to virtual assistant than "chatbot" because it has speech recognition feature in it. Do you have any suggestion?
  - travisjungroth 6y ago
    It wasn't clear to me that it was speech controlled. The demo gif (which is awesome you have) makes it look entirely text based. I don't know, I'm not great at copy. You should probably listen to my experience (It took me a minute to get what your app did and there were a few misunderstandings) rather than my advice (call it voice control for tech workers or something).
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - vuduytuananh 6y ago
      Well noted! Thank you for your feedback! If you are interested, feel free to download and try it out - the app is free anyways :)
purplecats 6y ago
Interesting UI. Huge titles next to minuscule fonts (webapp and mac app). Also wasn't aware you get an allotment of just a few tasks before you have to pay. Cool problem space though. I do think the amount of friction that exists to do these "microtasks" on a day to day is ridiculous. That said, I have just built my own solutions to these problems and this value proposition wasn't quite enough to sway me into using the product. If I had one recommendation, I would say fix the UI/UX. If it was pretty and usable, you could get some buyers.
- vuduytuananh 6y ago
  Thank you for your valuable feedback! Happy to hear one more person confirms that the problem space I am trying to solve exists! I do agree that there is a lot of room for improvements in this version of my solution. Could you tell me more about your experience with the pricing? From your impressions, did you think the Basic plan include "20 commands + 1000 tasks/month" or just "20 commands + 1000 tasks" or something else? Thank you!
  - purplecats 6y ago
    I actually didn't see what the pricing was. I think when I was in the settings panel, I saw something about "0/20" tasks and "0/1000" commands or something along those lines. I didn't know if that was number of executions or a number of unique tasks that I was allowed to manage, but it was enough for me to lose all hope of using the app and therefore with it, my interest. Might not be the case for everyone, as I'm more of a hacker. I already have a pretty solid workflow with Alfred which doesn't have such restrictions but I think your medium (chatbot type) offers certain benefits that Alfred doesn't. I imagine your target audience would be someone who wouldn't want to tinker on their own and would like readymade solutions, as you're close to offering.
    - vuduytuananh 6y ago
      Thank you for your insights! Really appreciate it!

8 points by vuduytuananh 6y ago

Hi all, we - developers - need to use multiple tools at work to get the job done. For example, GitHub/Gitlab/Bitbucket for version control, CircleCI for build/deploy, Jira/Asana for project management. Using multiple tools simultaneously sometimes leads to a bit overwhelming. Switching from your IDE (or main working app) to other apps or services on browsers comes with the cost of losing focus and reducing productivity. I myself experience the same problem, that's why I created Sunday Virtual Assistant (www.josunday.com) to hopefully makes our life easier by: - Connect to your apps/services (Jira, CircleCI, GitHub...) - Automate task by saving default values of your repetitive actions - Assign your task to predefined speech command - Summon your task at will via the speech command without the trade-off of losing your focus on the current work The app is available to download and all feedback, suggestions, and comments are welcome!

travisjungroth 6y ago

The app looks really cool. "Virtual assistant" usually means a human who helps you out remotely. I was surprised it was more like a chatbot with integrations.

vuduytuananh 6y ago
Thank you! The app is more like a Siri/Google Assistant/or Alexa but focusing on developers and potentially other occupations as well. I also did some thinking about using the term "Virtual Assistant" and found out that it - like you said - usually means people helps you out remotely. But on wikipedia, other similar AI-powered Assistant like Siri, GG Assistant, Alexa have the term "virtual assistant" in the definition. So I decided to go with it. I think Sunday is closer to virtual assistant than "chatbot" because it has speech recognition feature in it. Do you have any suggestion?
- travisjungroth 6y ago
  It wasn't clear to me that it was speech controlled. The demo gif (which is awesome you have) makes it look entirely text based. I don't know, I'm not great at copy. You should probably listen to my experience (It took me a minute to get what your app did and there were a few misunderstandings) rather than my advice (call it voice control for tech workers or something).
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - vuduytuananh 6y ago
    Well noted! Thank you for your feedback! If you are interested, feel free to download and try it out - the app is free anyways :)

purplecats 6y ago

Interesting UI. Huge titles next to minuscule fonts (webapp and mac app). Also wasn't aware you get an allotment of just a few tasks before you have to pay. Cool problem space though. I do think the amount of friction that exists to do these "microtasks" on a day to day is ridiculous. That said, I have just built my own solutions to these problems and this value proposition wasn't quite enough to sway me into using the product. If I had one recommendation, I would say fix the UI/UX. If it was pretty and usable, you could get some buyers.

vuduytuananh 6y ago
Thank you for your valuable feedback! Happy to hear one more person confirms that the problem space I am trying to solve exists! I do agree that there is a lot of room for improvements in this version of my solution. Could you tell me more about your experience with the pricing? From your impressions, did you think the Basic plan include "20 commands + 1000 tasks/month" or just "20 commands + 1000 tasks" or something else? Thank you!
- purplecats 6y ago
  I actually didn't see what the pricing was. I think when I was in the settings panel, I saw something about "0/20" tasks and "0/1000" commands or something along those lines. I didn't know if that was number of executions or a number of unique tasks that I was allowed to manage, but it was enough for me to lose all hope of using the app and therefore with it, my interest. Might not be the case for everyone, as I'm more of a hacker. I already have a pretty solid workflow with Alfred which doesn't have such restrictions but I think your medium (chatbot type) offers certain benefits that Alfred doesn't. I imagine your target audience would be someone who wouldn't want to tinker on their own and would like readymade solutions, as you're close to offering.
  - vuduytuananh 6y ago
    Thank you for your insights! Really appreciate it!