▲ ▼ Focus drift
In my earlier need gap, I posted Getting things done at individual level for which I received amazing responses. But, seeing that all of them are trying to do the same thing i.e. scheduling/time-managing the activities yet none of them seem to solve my problem directly, I started to realise there must be some greater underlying problem.
In my case, I think that is focus drift. I think, focus or attention drift is the primary reason for productivity loss for the most. So, time-management apps wouldn't do much if the particular tasks aren't completed within scheduled period due to loss of focus.
There is a need gap for a consumer friendly solution which can notice focus drift and alert the user to gain their attention back to the task they were doing.
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Wow, that actually explains my app perfectly.
I also posted on your other needgap.
http://www.deadlinesapplication.com/
https://www.reddit.com/r/SideProject/comments/fw5l53/another_productivity_timer_app_based_on_short/
How it solves focus drift:
Basically try to get things done within 1 minute, it will alert you and reward you for trying. Even if you didn't get it done that minute you can try the next minute, and the next, etc.
You can also set the interval timer to 5, 10, and 20 minutes.
It addresses the problem that our attention spans are short.
- You can also make commitments (loss aversion) where if you don't use it for 20 minutes right now you will lose a cute animal that you collected from using the timer.
I appreciate the comment, but although focus drift is the fundamental problem for task completion, I don't think a task manager app solves focus drifting problem at its core.
I mean, focus drift can happen anytime, say you go to a room and forget why you came there (or) say you go to the bathroom and start brushing the teeth unconsciously even if you hadn't come to the bathroom for that; we will not be using task manager apps for that.
I think only a sensor based approach which gets all the data which our eyes get as Abishek mentioned in other comment could address the problem of the focus drift.
Hi, I don't want to oversell my app. It's not for everyone. Some days I don't even use it. Some days it really helps me.
Non tech ways:
When I wear a shirt that has a front pocket, I keep a pocket notepad and a pen in there and I am less likely to drift. The notepad is in my peripheral vision and I can access it easily. This somewhat tackles the "visual" part that Abishek mentioned. I know that I just need to focus on my notepad.
Sometimes I couple the notepad with a timer for extra get up and go. This is what my app basically does except with cute rewards. Again, you don't have to use it to get similar benefits (and both methods might not work for you).
I also don't want to undermine Abishek's answer. I think its very interesting. And neither of my methods truly tackle aDDM. I also may not be understanding it fully. I just made an app that I wanted and in the process I learned so many useful skills that I wouldn't have learned if I didn't make it. And now I'm learning useful things about the consumer market. Pretty cool!
I appreciate revisiting the problem and attempting to break it down further; understanding the real problem is the first step to solving it.
Attentional Drift Diffusion Model (aDDM) shows how decisions are influenced by fluctuations in visual attention - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5573732/. So, using aDDM along with a visual input sensor i.e. camera can be a key to build a solution to solve this problem.
That's cool! So, you are telling me that glasses with camera on my face could alert me, may be like a vibration when I loose focus on something I was doing?
More like, there are existing mathematical/computational models to connect visual input to attention/focus, hardware like spectacle camera and so there may be a direction to solve this need gap.
That makes sense! I'm looking forward to gain more knowledge into this and perhaps may be could work with others here to build a solution to solve focus drift.