Whenever I see Deep Work apps I always see a reference to the Pomodoro technique but nothing about the techniques specific to deep work as it is described by Cal Newport. What about omitting distractions, prioritizing a single daily task or using your down time to do some brief yet satisfying activity to relax between tasks? Many of these deep work apps are just to-do lists with a timer.
Edit: For what it's worth OP's previous post about this project suggests that he/she has these features in mind and they are just not in this version.
Agreed. I normally use the two together. Basically plan what I need to do the night before (no more than 20 mins). During the day - shut off instant messenger and email (mostly drives my boss nuts) from 10am-1pm and 3pm-5pm and work on 50 minute work/ 10 minute break pomodoro intervals.
Helps immensely in getting code/math/design/docs/etc. done. I'll do this about 3 days of the week.
Maybe that reflects better what is the reality for most people in office jobs: some predictable with many unpredictable tasks, many possible distractions (email!) and the most manageable gain is simply by forcing short-term focus?
Or also that pomodoro can be used with a variety of tasks.
Cal's ideas (which also appear in many forms in other books) aren't really much/always applicable to my and I assume many other people's lives.
From the 4DX (4 Disciplines of Execution) Cal Newport mentioned in the book, people play a different game while keeping a scoreboard.
In my initial idea, the scoreboard (I have it on the left menu) is the core value of the app. The scoreboard should motivate you to focus on the goals.
I will work harder on improving the scoreboard so that it won't be just another todo + timer app.
And, based on my friend's feedback, I'm working on a feature that you can set your own interval instead of following Pomodoro technique.
Thank you so much for your feedback. It means a lot to me.
Yeah, once you're in that state of flow where time ceases to exist, that beeping snaps you right out. I think the key is to find the time chunk which gets you up to that point where you're just about to feel mentally exhausted.
For me, the Pomodoro is the starting point, so 1 Pomodoro to get you to focus for 25 mins. After that, you can a take a quick break, but for the 2nd Pomodoro, you simply disable the alert, and let the timer run on.
Also, it looks like privacy policy is missing. Even simple non-legalese would be useful; something like this would be ideal:
"I won't pass your email to third parties. I will send you a newsletter but only if you opt in during account setup. You can delete your data at any time."
If I saw a privacy policy written in a way I could understand, I would be WAY more likely to give my money to the premium version of the product.
As long as there was a tiny link (privacy policy for lawyers) with it written the traditional way. I want to know that a company is able to produce a traditional privacy document, but is also smart enough to know I don't want to read one.
Not parent, but for me it is because signing in with my google account is a relatively bigger commitment. They have my email, they can send me marketing content, among others.
On the other hand, I still have no idea what their product does uniquely outside of any todo list. Thus, there is no value for me there outside of the proposal of "Deep Work" which I remember fondly due to the book.
In simple terms, signing in with my account extracts an imagined cost (A company(?) has access to me), and the value presented is not enough for me to justify that cost.
Adding other screenshots, and descriptions of what the application does would allow me to understand what I am getting into, before deciding if it's worth it for me to pay that cost, and thus make an informed decision as to whether I want to sign in or not.
Signing in gives access to user data. In return there should be some utility to the user. If there is no implication of the latter, the user won't give away the former.
It gives access to your name, email and profile picture (if you have one). I don't consider it any different than if the same was asked with a signup form.
Having implemented Google Logins in the past, I always choose that option on sites I see: The site doesn't need to store any kind of password for you. This site also appears to be using the new Google "Cross Account Protection" feature, which will for example automatically log you out of the third party site if you report to Google that your account is compromised.
The product sounds interesting, but I'm not going to link my account unless I can see that the product is legit. i.e testimonials, screenshots, a navigation menu that doesn't just point to home etc..
Agree but pomodoro is a good way to get into DW. The truth is most of us are actually not able to focus on a single task for an hour or two. There’s such a thing as an attention muscle. Pomodoro helps with that by starting at 25 mins with a break.
Hmmmm... OK, but it also interrupts you at the end of 25 minutes.
Maybe look for a venue with fewer distractions? For me, a workspace that has only the relevant work materials and sufficient space to work is a great way to get into flow.
My personal failing is not getting to nearly all the reading that I want to accomplish. The best thing I have found to get through a lot of reading is a coast-to-coast flight with only a Kindle in my carry-on.
I've found that the better way to do the Pomodoro technique is to use a physical hourglass (one that has sand in it).
If you find yourself wandering, look at the hourglass and see if it still has sand in the upper chamber. If so, go back to work, if not, you were focused enough on your work for enough time not to notice the time running out.
Pomodoro does the opposite effect for me. Very often a task needs 20 minutes or 35 minutes. It jerks me out of flow by sticking to a forced 25 minute schedule.
There are some boring, tedious work like writing documentation and tests, where the Pomodoro Technique works well. But not for truly deep work.
Congrats on shipping, OP--looks interesting. FWIW, if someone's interested in a macOS app instead of a web one, I built Pomodoro a little less than a year ago. [0] It's minimal, sits in the menu bar, looks ok, and doesn't have ads.
I think getting an actual domain name and maybe some screenshots and a little more explanation of what's going on would go a long way here. I signed up and as far as I can tell it's just a timer? I'm thinking there's more here, but a little onboarding would be helpful.
Is it possible to track not just the number of Pomodoros but also the time of day in which they occured? Something like this:
Jan 1 - 5 pomodoros between 8AM - 1PM, 2 Pomodoros between 1PM - 5PM.
Jan 2 ---etc.
Over time you could have a personal heat map showing the times you're able to string together the most. I remember the book mentioned two types of work styles and it might take some tracking to figure out which one you fall into.
One is monastic, which is where you have a work environment where you'll be left alone for hours each day (e.g. working from home, no meetings).
The other was bi-modal, where you may have a predictable chunk of time each day where you're available to do deep work, but other times won't work.
To whomever owns this app, I have a small technical suggestion. The Polymer app-drawer is a lot more functional than similar implementations I've found for Material Design. I'd suggest giving it a look and see if you can integrate it, since it provides a better mobile experience by providing touch-swipe support:
Hey, congratulations on the project deploy! I'm trying to take it for a ride, but to my horror, I keep getting an "Invalid OAuth Response from Google.com" :(
I notice the favicon is the vueJs logo. Anytime I go to sites that have the default favicon on them like that I worry about the developer's or the owner's attention to details. Might want to change it! Other than that it looks nice. :)
Good luck! I remember there have periodically been posts on show HN for free logos/branding, perhaps some google-fu can get you in the right direction?
Looks really interesting but wow do they have every conversion hack enabled which makes it look super spammy IMHO. I’m all for converting, but there is a fine line between pitching your product and “But wait! There’s more!”
Edit: For what it's worth OP's previous post about this project suggests that he/she has these features in mind and they are just not in this version.