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Ask HN: Get paid cash to get shit done?! TaskUp, the task list that does.

6 points by aioprisan 14y ago

Task / To-do list suck at motivating users to get shit done. After contemplating the idea of task-based incentives, here’s a cash-based strategy we propose: 1. monetary rewards the customers upon timely task completion and 2. penalties when tasks become overdue Every completed task is rewarded with $0.10 and every task that becomes ‘overdue’ is penalized at 3x the reward. For instance, creating 8 tasks in the morning that are due today and only end up completing 7, the day end balance would be $0.40. In other words, you would get paid $0.40 that day: Completed Tasks: 7 * $0.10 = $0.70 Incomplete Tasks: 1 * $0.30 = $0.30 Day Total = $0.40 (Considering 20 business days) Total customer gain = $0.40 * 20 = $8/month Question 1: Would you use a task app that has a simple and intuitive workflow, incentivizes you with $$$ to get shit done, and has NO monthly subscription fees? Question 2: As far as the reward/punishment multiplier, the 3x multiplier is just a starting point. We’re also exploring a self sustainable model in which incomplete task dollars are used to reward completed tasks. Also, instead of community redistribution, we could also base the multiplier on the amount of money that the user him/herself has given to us, giving customers a chance to make up more money faster as they get more behind on tasks, motivating them to get on track faster. Question 3: Are there any downsides to the revenue model proposed whereby our best case is when our users have all incomplete tasks and lose a bunch of money? We are looking this from an ethical lens, and a long-term company strategy.

markoa 14y ago
Very basic question - who creates the tasks and who is supposed to work on them? Who are these people, colleagues, friends, strangers...?
- aioprisan 14y ago
  The account holder would create tasks for themselves, as well as checking tasks off. Shortly, we'll add options for accepting/rejecting tasks being created for customers by others (collaboration), but we're still working out the permissions for that piece.
aioprisan 14y ago
For the full post and preventing misuse cases, check out the rest of the post in our blog: http://blog.taskup.com/index.php/2012/10/get-paid-to-get-things-done/ http://blog.taskup.com/index.php/2012/10/get-paid-to-get-thi...
helen842000 14y ago
So they put their own money up and when they complete a task they get their own money back? What's to stop people marking tasks as done (when they're not) to avoid any losses?
- aioprisan 14y ago
  We would start off all accounts with a nominal positive ($1-$5) balance to minimize friction and get people more comfortable with it. We would be paying users, in the long term from their own money that they put into the system. We blogged about some of the cases to prevent misuse, here they are: Case 1: What if users create hundreds of tasks and just check off tasks to cash in without actually being more productive? We could limit rapid fire task creation to a few tasks per minute. Some backend NLP process would assign a spammer rank to new tasks, allowing us to temporarily suspend rewards if we believe the customer is just trying to game the system. Case 2: Even so, users could easily make hundreds of dollars each week if they just create tasks and check them off at regular intervals. How would you prevent that? We could cap weekly rewards to around $10/month and penalties to $20/month.
aioprisan 14y ago
Check out our task list app at https://taskup.com https://taskup.com
johnmurch 14y ago
I really like the idea of gamification when it comes to business and love this approach. Rather than asking HN if you would do this, build a light weight version and test it - even if it sites at another domain - throw some paid at it and see if you can get 20 people to opt-in. As for rev model and long term - what other things could you incoporate/affiliate like http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/18/maneesh-sethi-blogger-hires-craigslist-slapper-to-hit-him-unproductive_n_1980274.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/18/maneesh-sethi-blogg... - could something like this scale? Or partner with http://www.fancyhands.com/ http://www.fancyhands.com/ as a lead-gen model for them - help move tasks into outsourcing
- diveshg 14y ago
  I really enjoyed that huffingtonpost read, and I often struggle with keeping myself accountable and that's why I now either a) Work very closely with my manager/director so I have the pressure or b) Sign groups of people up to do stuff that I want done i.e. Gym classes. The model described above definitely addresses the topic, and I'd be willing to give it a try.

6 points by aioprisan 14y ago

markoa 14y ago

Very basic question - who creates the tasks and who is supposed to work on them? Who are these people, colleagues, friends, strangers...?

aioprisan 14y ago
The account holder would create tasks for themselves, as well as checking tasks off. Shortly, we'll add options for accepting/rejecting tasks being created for customers by others (collaboration), but we're still working out the permissions for that piece.

aioprisan 14y ago

For the full post and preventing misuse cases, check out the rest of the post in our blog: http://blog.taskup.com/index.php/2012/10/get-paid-to-get-things-done/ http://blog.taskup.com/index.php/2012/10/get-paid-to-get-thi...

helen842000 14y ago

So they put their own money up and when they complete a task they get their own money back? What's to stop people marking tasks as done (when they're not) to avoid any losses?

aioprisan 14y ago
We would start off all accounts with a nominal positive ($1-$5) balance to minimize friction and get people more comfortable with it. We would be paying users, in the long term from their own money that they put into the system. We blogged about some of the cases to prevent misuse, here they are: Case 1: What if users create hundreds of tasks and just check off tasks to cash in without actually being more productive? We could limit rapid fire task creation to a few tasks per minute. Some backend NLP process would assign a spammer rank to new tasks, allowing us to temporarily suspend rewards if we believe the customer is just trying to game the system. Case 2: Even so, users could easily make hundreds of dollars each week if they just create tasks and check them off at regular intervals. How would you prevent that? We could cap weekly rewards to around $10/month and penalties to $20/month.

aioprisan 14y ago

Check out our task list app at https://taskup.com https://taskup.com

johnmurch 14y ago

I really like the idea of gamification when it comes to business and love this approach. Rather than asking HN if you would do this, build a light weight version and test it - even if it sites at another domain - throw some paid at it and see if you can get 20 people to opt-in. As for rev model and long term - what other things could you incoporate/affiliate like http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/18/maneesh-sethi-blogger-hires-craigslist-slapper-to-hit-him-unproductive_n_1980274.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/18/maneesh-sethi-blogg... - could something like this scale? Or partner with http://www.fancyhands.com/ http://www.fancyhands.com/ as a lead-gen model for them - help move tasks into outsourcing

diveshg 14y ago
I really enjoyed that huffingtonpost read, and I often struggle with keeping myself accountable and that's why I now either a) Work very closely with my manager/director so I have the pressure or b) Sign groups of people up to do stuff that I want done i.e. Gym classes. The model described above definitely addresses the topic, and I'd be willing to give it a try.