building my first app

I have started a personal project where i want to create a mobile application. This exercise is part of the product management skills i want to learn and improve up on.

I will capture progress of the project using small blog posts.

To start with, i want to build a productivity app.
I have been using productivity apps for sometime. however, i have not come across a single app that caters to my needs. most of the existing apps address this issue partially.

It is possible there are apps that already address this problem. I have not done market study or user research yet. So, i am going to go ahead and build a paper prototype for the kind of app i want to build.

Following is the Problem statement: 

I want a system where i want to organise my work.

1. I want to set a goal. for example, 3 goals in a year. lose weight, learn a new language and do a professional project. 
2. I want to subdivide these goals in to smaller chunks of activities. create a mind map of idea and subdivide them.
3. Get list of actions ( to do list ) for each one of the goals. this could be get initial set and leave some space for new actions to be added
4. need a way to prioritise the tasks. 
5. add the tasks to calendar. have a daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly view. 
6. journal at the end of day what tasks were done. 
7. each day should have a buffer for unplanned activities. 
8. ability to add notes, add related documents, share update on the action, work in progress items. quick update on current work in progress.
   1. share links if required. 
9. a way to track the progress of the goal weekly or bi weekly. planned vs actual effort spent. 
10. quarterly check on planned vs actual. track progress and re-prioritize. 
11. ability to tag. 
12. check completion and review. 
13. yearly review with new goals. 
14. ability to find patterns in journal or stuff already written 
15. yearly review of actions taken. 

Need for this app

most of the current productivity apps address one or few objectives. there are calendar apps. to-do lists. setting goals. journaling apps, mind mapping apps. what is required is an app that helps people setup a goal. subdivide into actionable tasks ( to do list). link it with calendar app. prioritise tasks. making sure they are spending their productive time on priority activities. track progress, keep note of the work they did during the time ( meeting notes, documents prepared or a simple update on action taken during the time). Link all relevant documentation. take care of adhoc activities yet don’t lose site on planned activities. journal progress. and end of week/month, keep reviewing on planned vs actual performance and reprioritise and move on. periodically track progress of your goal till its achievement.

most of the productivity apps are idealistic. assuming that plan will be followed 100% so that goal is achieved. realistically, most of the goals are not achieved because people don’t act idealistically. people rarely follow plans to perfection. there is always that extra food you ate, or a fitness session you missed. it is true that people need more discipline to achieve goals. however, this mindset is also causing many people to quit having goals or not pursuing them. there has to be a mechanism, where people can plan for 60-70% actual vs plan so that they make progress towards their goals. and productivity apps should be designed. 

Current challenges with productivity apps:

There is a need to teach people on how to set achievable goals. 

and how to sort / prioritise tasks.  

To be continued...