#Product Plan: Adultify Me
Problem Statement
Adulting (aka engaging in daily self-care, doing chores, paying bills, scheduling appointments, etc.) can be hard, especially when under severe time, emotional, and/or energy constraints. Even if one has set reminders for themselves (such as through a Trello board or an app designed to remind for tasks) it can be easy to ignore or outright skip even push notifications if not also reminded of the personal reason they wanted to accomplish those things.
Adultify Me is a mobile app and/or web app to add that personal piece to reminders: letting users remind their future selves about their reasons for the notifications, as well as gamifying the process to hopefully make the app(s) enjoyable to use.
Market Research
Non-mobile app competitors
Pen/paper; whiteboards; Desktop and/or mobile OS calendar or alarm systems
The advantages of these systems may be in their simplicity and affordability. (Easy write and cross out/erase for paper and whiteboards; simple user interfaces for adding items to calendars or alarms at certain times, and functionality that comes standard with many if not all operating systems.)
But depending on the to-do list system chosen there can be disadvantages: a pen/paper is portable and can include any level of personal motivations, but can be lost and can't actively remind the person of what's on the list. Whiteboards are similar, but not as portable. The calendar and alarm system features of operating systems may not be able to give the level of task detail the user would like, may not foster and encourage personal motivation, and does not build in gamification to further encourage the user to follow-through on tasks.
Mobile app competitors
(Note: There are far more relevant reminder apps out there than I could review in-depth. I've included a set below that illustrates a sampling of common features and tone/aesthetic I saw in relation to areas I want to target with my app: personal motivation, gamification, and an aesthetic with a general appeal.)
A goals planning software system with web and mobile apps. Its goal tracking includes a Description/Purpose field comparable to my personal reminders field feature (i.e. Q: "why do you want to achieve this goal?" A: "help the world"). This field does not seem to be included for its simpler task creation, making it only available for goals that require a comprehensive plan of tasks. This could be overkill for some users who just want personalized motivation for tasks without having to group them within overarching goals.
The software system's aesthetics are also quite business-like, which may seem boring and/or lacking in emotional motivation to some users. (It is also $68 per year, the most expensive option I reviewed.)
A to-do list and task management app with the ability to add a note via "//" at the end of a task name, which could server as a personal motivation field, though it's not branded as such on their website (i.e. "Buy gift for Aidan ^Today // Maybe an iPad?").
However, many features of the app comparable to ones I'd like to include are restricted to paid users ($39.99 per year). These include mobile notifications (Android or iOS as opposed to emails, texts, IMs or Twitter included in the free version) and customizing the app's appearance.
A to-do system for web, mobile, and smart watches. It has the Todoist Karma system, a gamification feature that uses positive and negative karma to reward or penalize users depending on whether their tasks are completed on time or late. This is used to "level up" the user from Beginner level to Enlightened, meant to indicate the user's level of productivity alongside charts that measure productivity. This is a gamification feature in the same vein as what I'd like to implement for Adultify Me, but centered on tracking productivity vs. using the metric as a currency for fun in-app customization.
The system's tracking functionality and ability to send email and SMS reminders are also not available in the free version—there's a $28.99 per year cost for those features.
Habitica (an Android and iOS app) as well as Task Hammer (Android) and Epic Win (iOS) are all to do list apps that gamify task tracking with a fantasy RPG feel. (Habitica going for a classic video game RPG aesthetic, while the others focus more on non-video game art appeal.) These apps are very strong in gamification features, but would likely not be compelling to someone uninterested in fantasy RPG gaming. I'm aiming for my app to have a broader appeal with a more general gamification aesthetic. (Habitica and Task Hammer are free, with Epic Win costing $1.99.)
Mindbloom (Proof! app in the suite)
Mindbloom is a suite of web and/or mobile apps, and it embodied the personal in personal motivation across categories of life that I'd like to include Adultify Me. But its app that most closely mapped to a to do list, Proof!, has a very limited format. The user sets up 7-day challenges to motivate them towards change, which is more of a short-term habit former than a longer-term task reminder system. It also has not been updated since August of 2014, and recent reviews from Google Play indicate it may be too buggy at this point. (It's assumed to be free as price was not mentioned on Mindbloom's website.)
This web and mobile app focuses highly on the personal motivations for change in its users, but it is not strictly a to-do list system. It is a system to overcome specific life challenges, such as exercising more, losing weight, or dealing with anxiety and/or depression, with activities (similar to tasks) related to those challenges. Users can schedule their own activities, but despite its positive and personal messaging it's embedded in a larger system with a separate overarching goal. This may be more involved and complicated than my target users wants. (It's stated as being a free product.)
Differentiation
After listening to user feedback and researching user comments on products online, as well as my own points of pain that inspired me to plan this product, I would like my app to be different from others in the following ways:
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It should be focused on to-do management with reminders, in a system that encourages users to save personal motivation for each task to be seen later on in the task's reminder. Reminders should be compelling and encourage the user to follow-through with the task at the specified date/time. The app should have a warm and welcoming aesthetic in order to encourage space for users to feel comfortable documenting their personal motivations.
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It should have a casual, simple and gamified component to encourage and make it more fun to do tasks. It should be relatively simple to avoid being overwhelming for busy users, and should have a casual and light-hearted feel.
User Personas
Main Target User Group
My target group consists of individuals experiencing a very busy point in their life and having trouble remembering and/or finding the energy/motivation to accomplish their real life responsibilities. They may enjoy feeling in control of situations, and don't feel comfortable setting up things like automatic bill pay or other convenience functionality that might help but also reduce their sense of control over their life. A happy medium between approaching tasks as a 100% manual with no motivating reminders and having everything automatically scheduled for the person is desirable with my app.
They may not be able to have the time or energy to interact with a complicated organizational app, and would prefer something simple and easy to set-up/configure. My app should be simple to use and update.
They may be in a situation where they're not often paying attention to all areas of their life (health, finances, etc.) because of another area (such as their career). Having the encouragement and ability to remind their future selves of why, in their own words, something in an area they're not currently focused on is personally important may help. This is especially true for situations where doing a task could easily be ignored with no short-term penalty in the face of being tired. (Such as with choosing whether to exercise or not.)
They may be used to not having as much relaxation in their lives as they'd want, so a positive and enjoyable/fun experience with an organizational app would be welcomed. I want to build my app to be less boring than a purely functional to do list app, yet appealing to a wider audience than those who participate in a single hobby an app is built around.
Technology Selections
Front-end
- React Native/JSX (with a variety of RN packages)
- Redux
- Moment.js
- Lodash
Back-end (if necessary; may exclusively store information in app and/or phone)
- Firebase
Tools
- Atom (editor)
- Android Studio (emulator)
Trello
https://trello.com/b/HpfRrHWJ/adultify-me
Wireframes
(See Wireframe list on Trello Board)