Back in 2016 we wrote a post detailing the top 10 requested features in TimeTune. At that time, the most requested feature was tracking (adding a way to track the accomplishment of your routine and activities).
However, those were early days and there were continuous movements in the ranking. In the end, we decided to wait and see. When things were more stable, we could make a better decision.
Fast forward to today, and you’ll see a much better picture. Currently, these are the top 3 requested features in TimeTune:
- Routine tracking (685 votes).
- Desktop or browser version (280 votes).
- Full calendar synchronization (279 votes).
Indeed, tracking is still the most requested feature in TimeTune, but now it wins by far. Now it’s undeniably clear which request we need to work on first.
However, there’s a gap we need to fill before we can implement that feature. We need to find the right approach to routine tracking.
And that’s where we need your help.
We have some ideas in mind, but we’d like to know your opinion before starting any kind of implementation. Let us know what you think about these approaches, and let us know if you have other suggestions too.
APPROACH #1: DONE / NOT DONE
This approach would work by marking activities only as ‘Done’, like in a to-do app.
At this moment, we’re not fans of this approach. Although it would be simple to use, it doesn’t allow to check whether an activity has been accomplished in time or not. It’s not really a good way to track the efficiency of your routine.
On the other hand, it would allow the app to track habits. We could easily measure streaks for your activities, for example (although this could be done with other approaches as well).
Pros:
- Simple to use.
- Good for habits.
Cons:
- Doesn’t really track the efficiency of the routine.
- Doesn’t really meet the purpose of the app.
APPROACH #2: TRACK ACTUAL TIME
A second possibility would be measuring the actual time each activity takes, like in a typical time tracking app.
Although this approach would produce detailed measurements, it wouldn’t be simple to use. As in a time tracking app, you would need to remember to start and stop a timer every time you change activities.
We’re not too keen on this approach either. There are a lot of good time trackers in the market and we don’t really need to fill that void.
Pros:
- Detailed data.
Cons:
- Uncomfortable to use.
- Doesn’t automate the tracking process.
APPROACH #3: DONE IN TIME / IN ADVANCE / WITH DELAY
This approach would be a compromise between the first two. It would work by marking an activity as ‘Done in time’, ‘Done in advance’ or ‘Done with delay’.
This is the approach that we like the most so far. It’s as simple to use as the first one. And it provides similar insights to the second one. Besides, we can track habits too.
To make things simpler, we could add some buttons to our ordinary notifications so you could mark the activity from there without opening the app.
Pros:
- Simple to use.
- Tracks the efficiency of the routine.
- Allows to track habits.
Cons:
- Data is not as detailed as in the second approach.
ONE DOUBT: MARK ACTIVITIES BY DEFAULT?
Taking into account that a routine is usually composed of many activities that happen every day, we think that forcing you to mark them all as ‘Done’ each and every day can get cumbersome too fast.
We thought of some alternatives to alleviate this. To sum up, these are the possibilities:
- Marking activities as ‘Done in time’ automatically by default. In fact, this should be the usual case. You would only need to mark an activity manually when done in advance, done with delay or when not done, the less common cases.
- Not marking activities by default, but enable tracking only for specific activities. Although this would reduce the amount of marks you would need to make, it doesn’t really track the efficiency of your routine as a whole.
- Not doing anything by default. As explained before, this would imply a lot of manual tracking.
YOUR TURN
We’d really love to know your opinion. All ideas are welcome! 😃
- Which approach would you like to use when tracking your routine?
- How would you like the app to mark an activity by default?
- Do you have other suggestions for tracking?
Remember, we’re looking for an approach that is simple and easy, which can produce useful insights about the accomplishment of your routine.
You can send your feedback:
- By leaving a comment in this post
- By email at timetuneapp@gmail.com
- On Facebook
- On Twitter
- From the TimeTune app: Main menu / Help / Send feedback
Thank you very much! 🧡
(Top illustration by Freepik)
I prefer approach #3 and mark activities done in time by default.
I have one more suggestion for the develpers, completely different from current topic but important to note. You have provided clone option to clone an activity or copying an activity when you have to repeat the same in other days of the week but you haven’t provided an option to copy an activity on same day. e.g. If a person likes to take a break of 5 minutes after his each activity or couple of activities , he needs to 1. create an activity with tag ‘break’
2.mark the time and
3.save it.
He has to create such activity for the n number of times he wants break in his day.
So, please create an option using which we can copy the activity on same day.
Thanks a lot! 👍 We take note of your suggestion too 📝
Hi, for me will be better this one choise:
2. You Not marking activities by default, but enable tracking only for specific activities. Although this would reduce the amount of marks you would need to make, it doesn’t really track the efficiency of your routine as a whole.
And I belive you can make this goals in this year:
2.Desktop or browser version (280 votes).
3.Full calendar synchronization (279 votes). (ability to edit google calendar)
Thank you for your work, Your app is the best time tracker for me!:)
Thanks for the feedback! 👍
I really like timetune design and simplicity. Sometimes I decide to replace Google calander with timetume but missing some features not allow me to do that:
Features I want to be in timetune:
– Calender view: timelime view is nice but we can’t really know what are our routines in first glance. Our routine may differ for each day so calendar view is necessary.
– Ability to add tasks for each routine:
– Ability to customize a routine for specific day:
Sometimes our routine may differ in a single day So if we can change the routine in that day it will be cool.
Thanks for your suggestions, Saeed! 👍
Option Number 2. And if there is a time tracker on the market that let’s you plan your day then actually track it as in #2, please let me know. I have tried at least 100 time trackers and it seems that planning and then tracking to validate the plan is too hard for any of them. I came here to see if you had any integrations to get that actual tracking. This would move time tune from a 3 star app to a 5 star app. The other 2 new functions are nice enough also, especially if you let me use my own CalDav calendar instead of having to link to a spyware calendar.
Thank you very much for your feedback 👍 No app comes to mind regarding the second approach. But you’re right, there are so many time trackers that it’s difficult to know them all 🤔
Hi!
I love that you blog about this. So smart.
I have thoughts to share, but I also want to acknowledge how many assumptions I’m making about your product’s existing problem statement and your priorities, process, etc etc etc. I’m also suggesting something new rather than voting on an existing option, which may be useless to you.
Okay here is my attempt at PMing this:
I am trying to find the heart of the problem statement. My guess is:
As a user who is trying to generate and follow a predictable and accomplishable routine, I need a way to evaluate my current schedule’s strengths and weaknesses.
NOT the problem:
As a user, I want to keep track of what I still need to do today/this week
As a user, I want help adhering to my aggressive schedule.
The solution we’re talking about is to allow users to indicate what actually happened during the day, and that makes sense to me as long as that data can be extrapolated to:
– when are you *more* likely to do any given action?
– which actions are routinely being missed?
– which days are you least successful at following your schedule?
My suggestion:
The user needs to be able to record their *actual* schedule in addition to their idealized schedule.
This could be the same mechanism as creating any other routine for now; you could even repurpose labels to indicate “actual” versus “ideal” if this made things simpler on your backed.
Then, the v1 would probably just need to show some form of diff between the ideal and the actual. (Another can of worms)
Collecting this data for v1 then allows you to do a lot more as you iterate:
– compare time ranges when certain schedule items were more likely to happen during the user’s day, then make suggestions regarding when to schedule those items based on that
– identify items that run longer than their scheduled period
– identifying items completed daily to show streak data, if that feels in scope to you for time tune (I think it’s probably not)
– identify days that might need a little help, and maybe also days that might have some extra buffer to them, so you can recommend moving an item from a busy Monday to your empty Sunday, for example
Anyway, whatever you folks are working on will be solid, I’m sure. Good luck in your design meetings 😉
<3 Katy
Thank you very much for your feedback, Katy! 👍 Indeed, our goal is to find an easy way to measure the effectiveness of the routine and provide suggestions based on that. We take note of your ideas, this kind of detailed feedback helps us a lot 🙂 Cheers!
I like approach number 3 first or number 1 alternatively. For me approach 2 is to detailed for my needs and would require to much effort and time.
I would prefer not to have anything marked as done automatically as it will not really reflect my acheivements and will then not provide a clear reflection of whats working for me.
Thanks a lot for your feedback, Heidi! 👍🙂
My feedback:
———–
Let user decide whether to mark each activity as : ‘Done in time’, ‘Done in advance’ or ‘Done with delay’. You may include an option with in activity settings to make it default at the time of creating new activity.
+ Useful for common activities like workouts, drink water immediately after wake up etc. We are so used to few of our daily activities and there is very less chance that we miss them. So user should not spend time in ticking them.
+ But still, there will be few activities where we miss doing on time and need to me more discipline. App should help in tracking them manually for those activities where default option is not set.
To make things simpler, we could add some buttons to our ordinary notifications so you could mark the activity from there without opening the app. : Thumps up for this.
Feature requests:
—————–
In addition to ‘Done in time’, ‘Done in advance’ or ‘Done with delay’ we should first check if the activity is done or skipped or postponed.
That means:
Is an activity done..? Yes/No.
If Yes, is it ‘Done in time’, ‘Done in advance’ or ‘Done with delay’..?
If No, is it skipped (i wont do the activity anymore) or postponed (i will do tomorrow and the activity should be rescheduled automatically in app)..?
Also see the possibility to add below feature – type for activity (each activity can span any number of minutes as it is now)
1. Number: Drink water 10 times daily, read 10 pages of a novel, 10 push-ups etc… (Completion: actual/planned)
2. Time: 30 mins of running (Completion: actual time/planned time). Only for this activity type, user should record actual type. This should not be a pain provided app has all these super capabilities :).
3. Yes/No: planted a tree or not, did I sent email or not (Completion: 0 or 100%)
When reminder/notifications are set for an activity and activity type is ‘Number’, the notification should allow to increase count of activity (increase number of glasses from 4 to 5 out of 10), in addition to mark activity as done (10 out of 10 glasses)
App should show calendar view with % of activities completed on each day.
App should also have reports to show how many activities fall in each category: Done (‘Done in time’, ‘Done in advance’ or ‘Done with delay’), skipped, postponed per day/month/year/custom date range.
Hi! Thank you very much for your feedback and suggestions 👍 We will evaluate all the ideas 🔎 Cheers! 🙂
When you add an item to your routine you can set a notification. Why not have another notification option called end notification or simular. If none is set then nothing happens. If you add one you can select the time of end notification like when your item ends or at the end of the day. That notification pops up with option to select done on time, done with delay, skip, not done.
Thanks for your suggestion, Zach! 👍
Wow this is amazing! I’m so glad you’re working on this, and I hope it gets implemented soon 😀
I prefer option #3, and enabling tracking only for specific activities
Thank you so much for your work!
Thanks a lot for leaving your vote! 👍🙂
Hello, TimeTune! I would definitely like to vote for option #3 above. I would also like to vote for not having a default selection, but allowing users to choose their selection.
Alternatively, an idea for expanding option #1 might be adding an optional Programmer feature that allows the app to indicate whether the task/routine was completed on-time/in advance/etc. when the user adds the “done” check mark. This could create complications for users who finish multiple tasks and them check them off later or who are delayed by external distractions (phone call, etc.). A fix for those users may be to turn on a “Time completed” field when using said Programmer feature. More work for your staff, but less clutter for users who prefer the simplest UI.
Thanks for keeping your users in the loop! Very pleased to have chosen this app and to grow with it in the coming months and years.