I would really like to have reminders for my tasks. These can be email or as notification under Windows.
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Hello!
Please describe why and how you would use the notifications, so that I understand your needs correctly.
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Hello,
thanks for the fast answer.
When I open my PC in the morning, I would like to be reminded / notified of the things that are on focus today (or now). In a further step emails that mail me my upcoming todos for today / the next days were great.
Wouldn’t that be the same as just opening the focus list? Same for email.
I’m just trying to understand the benefit of this kind of notification vs what we already have.
If tasks could be scheduled for specific time, in that case I see how notifications would help. But as it stands now, scheduling is on a day basis, so you only need to check Focus once a day to not miss anything.
Yes and no. I dont want to look into that focus folder all the time. Scheduling for a specifiv time would also be great but in the first step it would be enough to get the reminder at a specific time of the day.
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Now we are getting somewhere. So you want to be reminded at certain times of day of what’s left on your Focus list?
This might actually be a great addition, especially for tasks with a due date and such.
I like the idea of Email notification over OS-based because it’s too easy to dismiss OS messages, and you’d have to be in front of the computer to see them in time.
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I would like to chime in here and bring this feature request back to the top of the list. I have found Everdo when searching for a replacement for the soon-to-be-killed Google Inbox.
I use reminders in Google Inbox to tell me of a specific task I need to remember at a specific time. I think what @johannesscherbaum is asking, or at least what I am hoping is being asked, is for this feature. An email, or OS notification of a specific item at a specific time.
Ideally, this could work with recurring tasks. For example, “Remind me every Wednesday at 5:00pm to take out the trash”.
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In the same fashion, setting a time (hh;mm) for any scheduled task would be a very nice feature. Currently standard for many other tasks and lists apps.
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I was thinking of handling this via calendar integration. You optionally set a time of day on your scheduled tasks, and those notifications automatically get added to your calendar. I believe any time-based features are useless when not integrated with a calendar.
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Calendar integration or not. I want my phone to bug me when it’s time to do something and I want my app that I use to manage my tasks “EVERDO” to be the one that does it!
This is why I spend hundreds of dollars for a computer in my pocket.
I want it to buzz me when something is due.
You made another good point, Everdo currently does not have the ability to set due TIME, to it’s utter disappointment.
This kills 50% of it’s usability.
Setting times also help to manage what is due.
I have a hundred things due in one day. Without times I have to spend too much time sifting through what is due in a day.
I’ve gotten around that by setting morning tasks to high energy and evening to low energy but that does not sort my Focus list by energy.
I just want to see what is due NOW.
Today is tooooo big.
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As for a general reminder throughout the day to check the focus list, MANY APPS HAVE done that and it has been utterly useless.
What ends up happening is the phone buzzes you and you see “check focus list” and you’re like, “yeah but I don’t have anything important in there right now”
Then comes night and you’re like"holy crap! Why didn’t I check it" and it never works.
Timed reminders tell us what we need to do right when we need to do it! That is the only thing that works.
I’m telling you. I’ve been down that road a thousand times with other apps. It’s no good.
I think that Andrei is getting to functionality because he uses a calendar app to get his timed notifications. But Andrei , that is your work flow for your kind of work. Not everyone is sitting at a computer and programming all day. I am a teacher full time. I’m not at a desktop. My main line for most of the day is my phone. I need to do as much with my phone as I possibly can. I need those times reminders in my pocket cause I’m taking to people all day. I get distracted by the businesses of the day.
I wake up at 4 friggin AM just so I can manage my tasks so that throughout the day I don’t get screwed up.
You work on a PC all day. You’re not gonna understand.
If you’re answer to timed reminders is ,“get a calendar app” then I need to duplicate all my Everdo tasks in my calendar app and the question becomes, “why not just use my calendar app to manage my tasks?”
But that is the whole point of why all of us are here.
We are looking for something that is more than a calendar and more than Remember The Milk. And more than Workflowy .
Calendars can’t help us structure our tasks by priority and see them in different perspectives, Todo lists can’t tell us when things are over due
The combination is what everyone is looking for.
I’m sorry to say that Todoist does this wonderfully but I hate it for several reasons.
- it’s expensive
- it is riddled with sync issues that have killed me
- Nirvana / Everdo style projects are cleaner to understand than stacked tasks in Todoist and make less work
- I hate the subscription model
- I can FEEL their preference for iPhone
- I can FEEL their lack of care for their users
- Their Linux app is a hack from the web addon I feel like crap using every time
Do you have any idea about how time-based scheduling / notifications could work other than duplicating the calendar functionality?
Why do you feel you need a desktop in this situation?
Personally, I work in the spirit of GTD and try to develop the app in the same way as much as I can.
In the morning I review the focus list and schedule what absolutely needs to happen at specific time. This goes on the calendar, which is also on my phone. Then I use Next throughout the day to filter actions according to the current context or area I’m focusing on. I have time blocks for different Areas throughout the day, such as “Work”, “Study”, “chores” and so on. The time blocks are also in the calendar (they are recurring daily). I don’t think any app can “cure” being overwhelmed with work if that is what’s happening.
I think this workflow works well in general even though it probably won’t work for everyone.
Also, you would be correct in assuming that Everdo is being developed with a desktop user in mind primarily. This is just how it is.
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Then you have to create a whole calendar event for the task. That is duplicating a ton of work for yourself. In Todoist I just set the time right there and no need to
- remember the info
- exit out
- find calendar app
- make a whole calendar event re-entering all the information or copy paste
- check back to see if I entered it right.
Plus now you have the trouble of differing tasks you didn’t do to the next day. Now you have to do that in your calendar and in Everdo.
I’ve got five tasks I could do at any one time that I want to bring to my memory at that time so I can choose one.
I’m not gonna enter five tasks for 6:30 in a calendar and try to manage that there, forget that!
That’s the power of a task app on a mobile device. This is the whole point and strength of the evolution of GTD to a computer in your pocket.
It just occurred to me that this means that you are constantly having to refer to both apps. You have to keep checking your calendar to figure out if you got the right tasks on there and then Everdo to see what needs to go on there. No wonder you are wanting calendar integration.
ooOOOooor better yet, how about just adding timed schedules to Everdo.
I don’t want Everdo to give me a better calendar experience so I can spend more time in my calendar app. My calendar is good enough. I want my task manager (Everdo) to be better so I can spend LESS time in my calendar.
timed reminders are your answer. Because you do not have timed reminders you are having to duplicate that work in some other app and that is wearing you out.
I’m just thankful to have a linux app that syncs well. That’s why I left Todoist. As I have probably droned to death by now.
Wait! That is the WHOLE POINT. Making the calendar app unnecessary. duplicating basic functions of a calendar. I don’t need all the functions of a calendar . I don’t need the calendar view to see all my tasks as a kind of scheduled block. That would never work because I would have like ten tasks packed into one time slot. The whole point is taking the bare minimum NEEDS from the calendar experience and adding them to the task manager. Those BARE MINIMUM needs are
timed reminders
That is all.
I don’t need a whole calendar. What I would rather use if I were to use a second app would be an alarm clock app and I would just set an alarm for each task. but that would be duplicating sOOOO much work.
When all I need to do is add a time to my tasks.
You are duplicating so much work with your work flow.
Timed reminders solves all of that. Say goodbye to your calendar. All you need it for is time blocking repetitive blocks.
You should see my calendar. I use it as a journal for my routine to help me find empty spaces. It is those empty spaces that I need to have my task app ready . The thing is when I am in the moment I forget that there are things I could or should be doing at that time.
I don’t want a reminder to tell me to use Everdo. That’s not gonna work. I will just be like , “no I don’t” because my memory is crap. I need the reminder to tell me what is due at that time.
Otherwise I’m just gonna end up spending the whole time playing video games with my kids or watching youtube videos.
Do you have an example for that? Isn’t the basic idea of GTD to check the NEXT ACTION- List and choose from the context (time, energy, priority etc.) you are in which one you should do?
That sounds like exactly what I just said above
I think where our mobile devices can help us there is REMINDERS. In a perfect world I would not have to arrive at work and then think to myself, “gosh, I’m at work. It’s time to check my @work context list and choose an action” Our phone would recognize that we are at work and say"you are at work and here is the stuff you need to do"
The problem is that phones are not smart enough to do that but I am smart enough to know WHAT TIME I WILL BE AT WORK. I can set that time for specific actions in my@work context list and my phone will message me at that time, "you are at work and you need to do this " because once I’m at work I’m busy with life.
I hate to say this Andrei. But if you’re not going to give us timed reminders for individual tasks, at least let us set timed reminders for @contexts.
I think IN THE VERY LEAST for me that would be enough.
If I can get a reminder on my phone throwing up the list of stuff I need to do at the time I designate, that would be twice better than nothing at all.
I don’t think reminders are a bad idea. I wouldn’t rely on reminders completely, but I can see their usefulness. In fact, I have already included that functionality in the backlog. It’s just that I was considering a calendar integration as a way to push the reminders. This does not mean it’s not also possible to have the reminder appear on the phone directly, which I assume is what you are making an argument for.
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I think the idea of integrating with a calendar app is far way better than reminders built into Everdo itself.
In this solution, Everdo has to allow us to set a reminder that will be sent into a calendar. As a piece of information how the calendar should set up a reminder.
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