3 ms·

Where was this months ago? This seems like a good balance of todos. Why 6 instead of 4,5, or 7?

qzervaas 11y ago
Mainly because of the screen dimensions of most phones. I think the optimal amount is in the range of 4-7 as you point out, but it didn't look quite as nice. You can have less, but it encourages you to keep adding until you have six tasks. It came from my own needs where there's a few set tasks I need to do every day in my own business. It's not that I forget, but sometimes I'm lazy, and this motivates me to ensure they all get done, each day.
prawn 11y ago
(Co-creator here.) We wanted a manageable number - something that wouldn't leave people skipping things nor trying to do too little. Like Twitter's 140 coming from SMS, this probably came mostly from the screen of the average phone, while still keeping the targets fat and satisfying to tick off. I showed the tick off process to my toddler early in the beta testing and he said "Again! Again!" Speaking of, I have Streaks on the toddler's phone with daily habits of things like reading, brushing teeth, helping clean up, listening well, etc. Very useful so far. I use it for walking more, working smarter, reading more, etc. I find it very motivating. While on holiday, I changed "Work on side project" to "Choose the healthy option". No other to-do app has stuck with me. I feel like this one works because it tackles a subset of the broader to-do landscape. Not one-offs, or dependent tasks but just regular things we all want to do more of or less of.
- alttab 11y ago
  Could the fact that you are a co-creator have something to do with the sticking power? In any case, what does this satisfy that something like Habit RPG doesn't? I'll give you the "well, its simple" use case. Anything else?
  - prawn 11y ago
    Possibly. A counterpoint is that I have created many custom and private to-do apps and stuck with none of them! I find the Health integration with my walking target quite sticky and haven't seen that before. I'm not familiar with Habit RPG, but yes, the simplicity I think is important.
- jessaustin 11y ago
  ...the toddler's phone... That is something I haven't seen. I feel like such an old fogey.
  - JshWright 11y ago
    It sure snuck up on me... My wife and I have a couple 'educational' games on our phones so we can hand them to our daughter on car rides, etc. When I upgraded my phone, we suddenly realized that our two year old was now the de facto owner of a Galaxy S4. It's bordering on disquieting to watch a two year old navigate a smartphone as adeptly as someone 10 times their age...
    - prawn 11y ago
      This is how it happened for us too. We're late in an eight week trip through the US with a 2-3 yo and a 6 mo old, so having the phone for car trips, or the last 20 minutes at a restaurant or while waiting at an airport is very helpful. Would be even more brutal without it!

Mainly because of the screen dimensions of most phones. I think the optimal amount is in the range of 4-7 as you point out, but it didn't look quite as nice. You can have less, but it encourages you to keep adding until you have six tasks. It came from my own needs where there's a few set tasks I need to do every day in my own business. It's not that I forget, but sometimes I'm lazy, and this motivates me to ensure they all get done, each day.

prawn 11y ago

(Co-creator here.) We wanted a manageable number - something that wouldn't leave people skipping things nor trying to do too little. Like Twitter's 140 coming from SMS, this probably came mostly from the screen of the average phone, while still keeping the targets fat and satisfying to tick off. I showed the tick off process to my toddler early in the beta testing and he said "Again! Again!" Speaking of, I have Streaks on the toddler's phone with daily habits of things like reading, brushing teeth, helping clean up, listening well, etc. Very useful so far. I use it for walking more, working smarter, reading more, etc. I find it very motivating. While on holiday, I changed "Work on side project" to "Choose the healthy option". No other to-do app has stuck with me. I feel like this one works because it tackles a subset of the broader to-do landscape. Not one-offs, or dependent tasks but just regular things we all want to do more of or less of.

alttab 11y ago
Could the fact that you are a co-creator have something to do with the sticking power? In any case, what does this satisfy that something like Habit RPG doesn't? I'll give you the "well, its simple" use case. Anything else?
- prawn 11y ago
  Possibly. A counterpoint is that I have created many custom and private to-do apps and stuck with none of them! I find the Health integration with my walking target quite sticky and haven't seen that before. I'm not familiar with Habit RPG, but yes, the simplicity I think is important.
jessaustin 11y ago
...the toddler's phone... That is something I haven't seen. I feel like such an old fogey.
- JshWright 11y ago
  It sure snuck up on me... My wife and I have a couple 'educational' games on our phones so we can hand them to our daughter on car rides, etc. When I upgraded my phone, we suddenly realized that our two year old was now the de facto owner of a Galaxy S4. It's bordering on disquieting to watch a two year old navigate a smartphone as adeptly as someone 10 times their age...
  - prawn 11y ago
    This is how it happened for us too. We're late in an eight week trip through the US with a 2-3 yo and a 6 mo old, so having the phone for car trips, or the last 20 minutes at a restaurant or while waiting at an airport is very helpful. Would be even more brutal without it!