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Interesting approach. I looked at the site, haven't played with it yet. I've been thinking my workflows in a similar way to you, but came to a different conclu

Interesting approach. I looked at the site, haven't played with it yet. I've been thinking my workflows in a similar way to you, but came to a different conclusion. What I need is an interface that ties together all the threads of a given task and puts them in one place. Let's say that for a given "thing to get done" I have information stored in various locations: 1. multiple email threads in my inbox (sales, PO, ELT, etc). They are in various states: actionable by me, waiting for reply (to follow up by X date if none), paused until X date then actionable, etc. Threads change state as emails are exchanged. 2. multiple related chat windows (dev team, peers, support triage, etc) 3. a litter of notes, meeting minutes, random thoughts, rough drafts, bookmarks (to internal documents, related wikis, JIRA tickets, external web pages, meeting recordings, project plans). Note that I have boiled a lot of stuff down to this "notes" category - I use a notes app to store this all already even though the actual content is spread across multiple locations. My ideal interface would embed all of this together. Imagine the bastard child of OneNote, Outlook, and maybe Teams. To use OneNote terms: I add a Section for my "thing to do"; all the shit in #3 goes in a hierarchy of pages under it. In a page I can have the related email threads in an embedded mini-inbox widget - no more swapping to Outlook, no more bullshit with flags/folders etc. Same for related chat windows - a widget in the related section. State tracking and deadline/reminder/scheduling etc for everything. Anyway I ramble. What you have built is very cool! But I don't want an app grid, I want my inbox and chats sharded across my structured notes in a way that I can organise and annotate.

ParetoOptimal 3y ago
> Imagine the bastard child of OneNote, Outlook, and maybe Teams. To use OneNote terms: I add a Section for my "thing to do"; all the shit in #3 goes in a hierarchy of pages under it. In a page I can have the related email threads in an embedded mini-inbox widget - no more swapping to Outlook, no more bullshit with flags/folders etc. Same for related chat windows - a widget in the related section. State tracking and deadline/reminder/scheduling etc for everything. emacs, org-roam, org-mode, org-attach, mu4e, are what I use to accomplish roughly what you describe.
- 2d8a875f-39a2-4 3y ago
  The combination of all? I want one thing... But anyway, yeah. I have seen emacs power users and there is indeed cool stuff there. Don't know that I have the strength to invest to become a power user though.
daniel_sushil 3y ago
I believe it's an evolution of understanding what works for you and what doesn't. Experimenting with different approaches may be the best course of action. From Floutwork's design perspective, the goal is to display only one thing to the user at a time. This is deliberate to maintain focus. When your eyes catch something, your mind starts paying attention to it, often without you realizing, leading to a loss of focus. This is why working in a browser full of tabs can be distracting. If your eyes wander, seeing an updated inbox count in another Gmail tab title can divert your attention, making you wonder who might have sent you an email. Imagine the friction points introduced into your workflow simply by seeing items that shouldn't demand your full attention. In Floutwork, when you're checking your emails, your Outlook or Gmail becomes the primary view commanding your full attention. Once you're done with that, you can easily switch your view and context to, let's say, a design project in Figma by clicking on the Figma icon in your sidebar. Now that becomes your full view. You don't have to worry about a cluttered desktop. For those rare cases where side-by-side viewing is needed, 'Split View' functionality is provided. Closing it returns you to your original view with just one click.
- 2d8a875f-39a2-4 3y ago
  Fair enough, I get what you are driving at, and you are solving for a totally valid problem. I never use multiple screens for the same reason - my single screen is displaying the one thing at a time. My problem is juggling all the balls in the air for a large number of in-progress tasks. Presently my information landscape is split "vertically" by communication medium - here's all the email, here's all the chats, here's all the notes, here's the design projects, here's the slide decks, etc. What I want is rather to split it "horizontally" by task - here's everything related to task X. People I have discussed this with have joked that what I need is a good Personal Assistant instead, haha. They have a point though.

ParetoOptimal 3y ago

> Imagine the bastard child of OneNote, Outlook, and maybe Teams. To use OneNote terms: I add a Section for my "thing to do"; all the shit in #3 goes in a hierarchy of pages under it. In a page I can have the related email threads in an embedded mini-inbox widget - no more swapping to Outlook, no more bullshit with flags/folders etc. Same for related chat windows - a widget in the related section. State tracking and deadline/reminder/scheduling etc for everything. emacs, org-roam, org-mode, org-attach, mu4e, are what I use to accomplish roughly what you describe.

2d8a875f-39a2-4 3y ago
The combination of all? I want one thing... But anyway, yeah. I have seen emacs power users and there is indeed cool stuff there. Don't know that I have the strength to invest to become a power user though.

daniel_sushil 3y ago

I believe it's an evolution of understanding what works for you and what doesn't. Experimenting with different approaches may be the best course of action. From Floutwork's design perspective, the goal is to display only one thing to the user at a time. This is deliberate to maintain focus. When your eyes catch something, your mind starts paying attention to it, often without you realizing, leading to a loss of focus. This is why working in a browser full of tabs can be distracting. If your eyes wander, seeing an updated inbox count in another Gmail tab title can divert your attention, making you wonder who might have sent you an email. Imagine the friction points introduced into your workflow simply by seeing items that shouldn't demand your full attention. In Floutwork, when you're checking your emails, your Outlook or Gmail becomes the primary view commanding your full attention. Once you're done with that, you can easily switch your view and context to, let's say, a design project in Figma by clicking on the Figma icon in your sidebar. Now that becomes your full view. You don't have to worry about a cluttered desktop. For those rare cases where side-by-side viewing is needed, 'Split View' functionality is provided. Closing it returns you to your original view with just one click.

2d8a875f-39a2-4 3y ago
Fair enough, I get what you are driving at, and you are solving for a totally valid problem. I never use multiple screens for the same reason - my single screen is displaying the one thing at a time. My problem is juggling all the balls in the air for a large number of in-progress tasks. Presently my information landscape is split "vertically" by communication medium - here's all the email, here's all the chats, here's all the notes, here's the design projects, here's the slide decks, etc. What I want is rather to split it "horizontally" by task - here's everything related to task X. People I have discussed this with have joked that what I need is a good Personal Assistant instead, haha. They have a point though.