Focuster

Ditch your todo list for an intelligent schedule

7 followers

Ditch your todo list for an intelligent schedule

7 followers

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Launch tags:Web App•Task Management•Calendar

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Focuster

Maker

First off thanks to @hnshash for posting us! I created Focuster because as a freelancer and entrepreneur at various points in my life, I have felt overwhelmed with all that I had to do. I studied some of the most effective productivity methodologies like GTD, Tony Robbins' RPM and The Big Rocks First approach from Steven Covey. I found one of the most effective practices was to actually schedule time for things that are important. It forces you to look realistically at how much time you have available and make the hard decisions about what you have capacity for. Focuster connects to your Google Calendar and helps you easily visualize how much free time you have and make the most of it. It flows around your existing events and is always updating so your most important work always stays top of mind. If you have any questions about the product or even around focus & productivity in general please AMA!

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11yr ago

@hexsprite This is actually the way I use my calendar so I'm definitely going to check this out, it really seems as the definitive GTD tool I am going to try, in part because it is already so close to what I do to plan my days; I really hope it enhances that system. I'm already thinking about great features like tasks linked with a bigger task, snooze task, logs of tasks and export data of time tracking for billing, or delegation of tasks to other people, (perhaps by adding them as attendee?). One general question if I may: what are the more remarkable features in your roadmap? (if you can share) And a simpler question: are you planning on enabling sync with iCloud calendars? Because I really get advantage of having alarms work in all my devices as task managers reminders among other things. Best of luck for you! Cheers

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11yr ago

Focuster

Maker

@cl0_0p Great question! Next steps for us are nailing the mobile experience, first with mobile web and then an iPhone app to take advantage of the native notifications. Then: - Projects and Lists so you group your backlog more logically. - "Block Time”: Building on the projects to allow "block time" which means I can set aside part of my week for a certain list or project. If the actions in that project are not completed in that block it would automatically roll over to the next block. For example designate the weekend to work from your “Home” list and your top priority housework would be automatically scheduled during your first free time on Saturday. - “Work Session Timer”: Basically a pomodoro-style integrated timer that you can use to track how long you’re actually spending working on it. - “Focuster for Teams”: adding features for small teams like being able to have a dashboard to see what each member of your team is working on, what’s in their queue, and how overall busy or overloaded they are. Love to hear more from all of you what you would be most interested in! Did I miss anything?

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11yr ago

@hexsprite Block time sounds amazing, all the other features as well! I'm definitely going to follow your project, and try Focuster. Keep it rollin' mate, and thank you.

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11yr ago

@hexsprite thanks for the discount offer - will give it serious consideration. When I click to sign up the discount doesn't show anywhere before asking for my c/card. Is that supposed to happen. Also is the only difference between the first two plans the ability to schedule 2 weeks versus one day? cheers

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11yr ago

Focuster

Maker

@helencrozier regular pricing of the plans is 10/20/200... the discounted rates are 5/10/100. The $5 basic plan only lets you schedule a single day a time, where as the Pro plan lets queue up prioritzed actions up to 2 weeks in advance. The Exec plan has all that plus a monthly 1-on-1 Skype coaching on Focus & Productivity. Sorry if its unclear, we setup the offer at the last minute.

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11yr ago

Love this idea! Looking forward to trying it out. Some questions: (1) can you integrate your Google calendar with this? (2) Is it a mobile app, or just on desktop? And lastly (3), I'd love to see you integrate website-blocking features - for example, how cool would it be if I was forbidden from Facebook until I finished an urgent task? Ps - great video, very straight-forward!

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11yr ago

Focuster

Maker

@thelindiecity 1) Yes it directly integrates with Google calendar and keeps it up to date. If you add a new event in your Google calendar, then your action list will automatically reflow around it. 2) Mobile web in the next week or two, mobile app in the next month or two. 3) Love this idea! I'm a big fan of RescueTime and I think that could be a great integration.

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11yr ago

I use freedom - the heavy weight version when I need lockdown but to have this kind of thing built in would be cutting edge :-) along with some sort of reminder a la pomodoro to get you out of your chair @hexsprite @thelindiecity

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11yr ago

CocoaMail

Is the site down? I'm at next.focuster.com but all I get is a blank page (on iPhone at least... Is it desktop only?)

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11yr ago

Focuster

Maker

@rfreling Yes, it's currently only desktop web only at the moment though the older version of the app does support the mobile web. I hope you'll give it a try on your desktop and we'll be releasing the mobile web within a week or two.

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11yr ago

SUPER curious on this so trying it out. head's up: there was an issue where i tried to move my 12PM to 2PM and it denied the action saying i can't go back in time, but overall the feel is good and i like the idea of being a bit mindless and straight RE: work; is this just a desktop tool? (would be good for my side-life as a student, studying) general quick note: make sure your Gcal is organized right, my cal ending up a bit honky b/c of meetings that i don;t need to attend but still listed as said yes or maybe to.

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11yr ago

Focuster

Maker

@optimusdiaz Good tip, just so you know, you can select which calendars to display and consider busy in your settings. (Click your Avatar in the upper right). And yes, there is a known issue with dragging some of the events on the calendar that we are working to address. Thanks for the feedback!

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11yr ago

@hexsprite THANKS JORDAN! Still learning how to use it, but so far it's been keeping me in check. :) Appreciate the time you took for clarity here.

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11yr ago

I'd love to give this a shot but since it's such a drastic change from my current workflow conceptually I don't really want to pay atm. Any chance for a free trial in the future?

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11yr ago

Focuster

Maker

@jckprry Sorry if it was unclear, but there's a 14 day free trial of Focuster Pro included. Try it and let me know what you think!

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11yr ago

I find this very effective and absolutely beautiful! Would I be able to connect this to other accounts such as iCal?

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11yr ago

Focuster

Maker

@curlysafia I want to do it but I can't say when ;) We have a lot of exciting features in the pipeline and iCal is somewhat below that. But we will announce it here on PH when we do! Thanks for asking.

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11yr ago

This looks fantastic! I'm interested in signing up for one of your discounted packages, although, I'm getting a blank screen when I click on "Get Started Now" or "Login" (I get this on my phone as well). I'm guessing PH is hugging your servers too hard?

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11yr ago

Focuster

Maker

@searchresults hey can you email me jordan@focuster.com and let me know browser/OS you're using and I'll try to sort it out for you asap.

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11yr ago

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