{"id":899,"date":"2011-01-28T03:24:11","date_gmt":"2011-01-28T03:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/?p=899"},"modified":"2011-01-28T03:24:11","modified_gmt":"2011-01-28T03:24:11","slug":"productivity-theres-an-app-for-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/2011\/01\/28\/productivity-theres-an-app-for-that\/","title":{"rendered":"Productivity? There’s an app for that"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Two, actually).<\/p>\n

Busy busy busy.<\/p>\n

Grants, conference abstracts, project management.<\/p>\n

All to be completed without (completely) neglecting household chores, exercise, and fun.<\/p>\n

I’ve recently started using a couple of iPhone apps that I’ve found very helpful, and that I’m reviewing here in case they’re useful to you, too!<\/p>\n

Pomodoro Time Management Lite (Free)<\/a><\/p>\n

This is essentially just a timer, but it’s customised to the Pomodoro Technique<\/a> and requires much less hands-on time than manually setting the native iPhone timer multiple times a day. The pattern of 25 minute “pomodoros” of focused working time, followed by a 5 minute break (with a 30 minute break after every fourth pomodoro), fits my natural working style very nicely: if I’m having trouble settling into a difficult (or tedious) task, knowing that I only have to focus on it for 25 minutes makes it much easier to get started; and if I’m getting too<\/em> focused on something, the app reminds me to take frequent short breaks to stand up, stretch, look away from my screen, and grab a glass of water or put the kettle on. This is highly beneficial to my health and productivity over the course of a full day at work.<\/p>\n

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I also like the fact that Yoda apparently wrote the pause warning text. Stop, or stop not - there is no pause.<\/p><\/div>\n

Faults: the alarm at the beginning and end of each pomodoro doesn’t always go off (it seems to be more reliable in vibrate mode), so I sometimes miss it. And you have to manually restart the timer after the long 30 minute breaks.\u00a0It was also just generally glitchy on my old 3G iPhone – sometimes it would keep counting down the time if I switched to email or the iPod function for a few minutes, but at other times it would just freeze – but that bug doesn’t seem to be a problem on my shiny new multitasking iPhone 4.<\/p>\n

Oh, and of course, whenever someone comes by my desk and looks at my screen, it’s\u00a0always\u00a0during one of the breaks rather than during a pomodoro.<\/p>\n

Epic Win ($2.99)<\/a><\/p>\n

Thanks to Kimli’s excellent App Blast blog<\/a> I got this app when it was on sale for 99 cents. However, having used it for a few weeks now, I’d happily have paid the full whack – and I very<\/em> rarely spend more than 99 cents on any given app.<\/p>\n

Epic Win is basically a to-do list, but your tasks are called “quests” and completing them bags you nice little prizes – points that equate to miles on a journey. You collect loot along the way, and move up the levels of your chosen character type. These incentives provide a teeny tiny little extra bit of motivation that, tragically enough, is often enough to get me over my usual inertia and procrastination.<\/p>\n

You can set up recurring tasks or one-offs, and assign them values from 100-300 points based on difficulty. The app can be set up to send you push notifications of overdue tasks, an option I find helpful but that might get annoying if you set up lots of quests each day.<\/p>\n

The app displays a nice sense of humour throughout:<\/p>\n

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Current profile. Two of my nephews are going through a phase where they add "-tar" to the end of everyone's names, including their cats', hence Cathtar.<\/p><\/div>\n

I list exercise under “strength”, boring-but-necessary tasks like cleaning and laundry under “stamina”, work-related tasks (and extracurricular writing) under “intellect”, favours for friends and family (and kitty litter cleaning duties) under “social”, and guitar practice under “spirit” (oops. Must Do Better). I think<\/em> the yellow bars represent points earned under those categories since your last level-up, and I think<\/em> the numbers represent the number of times a task in that category has tipped you over the threshold of a new level. I’m not really sure, but it doesn’t matter, because it’s just for fun.<\/p>\n

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The app's soundtrack is of howling winds whistling over the desolate plain. Very atmospheric.<\/p><\/div>\n

The loot is definitely the best part:<\/p>\n

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LOOOOOOT!!!!!<\/p><\/div>\n

The other loot I’ve collected is as follows:<\/p>\n