

Show HN: Routinetap, my weekend project to track daily habits - mping
http://routinetap.com

======
gwillen
I'd love to see an android app, not with question-editing support but just to
let me answer my questions when I'm on the road / in bed / otherwise not at my
computer. The lower the barrier, the more often I will succeed at answering
the questions for the day.

Great idea, great project. :-)

~~~
hexagonc
The funny thing is that I applied for Y Combinator funding three years ago
centered around a Blackberry app version of a similar idea. I figured you
could tie in ads or shopping recommendations based on actual behavior (rather
than desired behavior). Unfortunately, I didn't get funding and the idea was
too half baked at the time anyway. I ended up shelving it for over two years.

I resurrected the idea about 6 months ago when I learned Android development.
I even built a very crude prototype. As you pointed out, however, data entry
is a real problem. However, if you're willing to stick with it, these types of
applications can be very powerful and useful for behavior modification because
you get feedback on what you actually do. For example, if you're trying to
lose weight or change a bad habit (or start a good habit) the power of actual
statistical data is amazing. It's like there is another person watching
everything you do that you have to be totally honest with. Just being aware of
your routines at this level of precision changes you.

~~~
gwillen
Indeed, I grabbed this app to record things I'm already recording. But I think
a mobile app will be a big win. I have found that, if I record data points
(mostly my weight) in a spreadsheet, I have trouble remembering to record
every day. But if I do it on a whiteboard on the wall, it's easy. So salience
and ease of use are key here.

~~~
pamelafox
I'm working on an app to help people track their progress towards better
eating habits (<http://everyday.io>), and yeah, being able to use it from
wherever you are is an important feature for me. So besides the web interface,
I also have an "email interface" (daily reminders, email-ins) and I'm working
on the mobile interface (Android app, iOS app pending damn Apple approval).
It's already hard enough to change daily habits, so it's important to make it
as easy as possible to track.

------
angkec
Is there a way to remind me everyday to fill out my questionare? A daily email
will probably work.

~~~
mping
Not yet, I have thought about this but I wasn't sure if I would be nagging
people. Maybe a opt-in would be the best choice.

~~~
adamtmca
I would also let them set the time of day for the notification.

------
mathrawka
I may be wrong, but I believe Benjamin Franklin had a system similar to this.
Except with "daily habits", it was "virtues".

I like the idea, and think it would be even better if you made things simpler
for the user. The point of this kind of app would be to get daily input, but
the user is their own worst enemy by not entering it every day. So, a nag
would make it much better.

Also, your use of Twitter Bootstrap is nice, but I saw that on the Sign Up
form you had the "@" prepended before e-mail. I think that is meant for when
there is a form to enter a twitter handle.

See here for what I mean: <http://cl.ly/2Z3Q1N112x2a3W0C0K3x>

~~~
vasco
You are correct. He had a chart with the days of the week (columns) and
virtues (rows). He would then note how many faults he had committed each day.
He tried to perfect each virtue for some time before adding another, and would
perform cycles of this system that lasted several weeks each.

He later stopped doing it, claiming lack of time but he still saw much value
in performing this task. You may find this in more detail in his book, which
is reproduced here (I have pointed for the specific chapter):
<http://www.benjaminfranklinbiography.net/#IX>

------
mguarascio
When people say weekend project, do they typically mean this took 20 hours or
so? About how long did this take you, mping? (Just wondering, because I feel
I'm very slow with personal projects - mostly because I usually work in 2 hour
blocks or so)

~~~
mping
Not even remotely close to 20 hours. I used this proj to learn rails and
mongodb, I had a previous project that went nowhere to learn rails, I had a
previous css scheme (before twitter's bootstrap came along), I used KnockoutJS
intensively (only to learn I didn't need it that bad) and I had to learn how
to deploy to a server (linode, dns, setting up nginx, etc).

A good estimate would be like 100 hours or more; I'm guessing if I handled the
screents to a Rails expert, he would do it in ~20 hours.

If I were to repeat it, I'd probably give backbone.js a try (and spend another
100+ hours...)

~~~
mguarascio
OK, thanks - makes me feel a little better. I was originially thinking "Where
do people get 100 hours in a weekend? Wives/children/pets must be on
vacation...". But I realize it's probably more like weekends, plural. I've got
a side project going to learn Django and Python - you're work inspired me to
throw Bootstrap in there too.

Anyway, nice job!

------
Detrus
Nice idea but the UI is weird. I have to setup questionnaires, click save on
them and on each day. It should sync in the background. Can't input data for
past days even if they're empty, only current day. The shuffling around
animation between calendar days is weird. Also feels slow.

UX is very important for this type of app. You're using it every day, it needs
to load and save data quickly.

Obviously it's the early prototype but I'd expect a simple app like this to be
as snappy as backbone.js todo example, it's not much more complex.

------
chunkyslink
I like the idea of this, but I can't help feeling there is always too much for
a user to do with app's like this.

I'm a busy person, I dont want to be filling in forms all the time keep this
information upto date. I know this is hard problem to solve. I mean - show
else would this work?

Makes me think of this post a few weeks ago

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3188635> (Dont give your users shit
work).

------
enobrev
Your copy needs a bit of work.

> "Do you ever wondered why don't you reach your personal goals, although you
> try?"

I'm not sure where you're going with that question, but it's all over the
place.

> "Do you want to know how much do you sleep on average?"

This makes somewhat better sense as: "Do you want to know how much you sleep,
on average?"

Although it's not a very gripping question. It could definitely lose "on
average".

~~~
mping
thanks, you're right.

------
dshipper
I've been looking for something like this for a while. Almost coded it myself
but now I don't have to. Thanks!

------
kellyreid
I was actually just starting to work on something that did the exact same
thing. I felt guilty for taking time to build a system that was supposed to
save me time. Thanks! Signed up, will surely use this.

Any plans for social features? I want to share my goals with the universe!

~~~
mping
Plans are refine the thing, go social and/or go mobile, to minimize the
friction.

------
LuxuryMode
Blarg. Who the hell wants to enter all these stats about their life, carefully
submitting numbers about their day, etc. bla bla bla. so in human. in the end
you're like a slave to the careful entering of stats about yourself, managing
your facts like some accountant.

------
tryitnow
I have four questions, I only see one at a time.

On <http://routinetap.com/answers_list> I expect to see all four of my
questions.

I want to spend as little time on this app as possible.

~~~
mping
It seems I have to refine the lingo. You may have created 4 questionnaires
instead. I'll have to set up a how-to real soon!

------
mping
This is my first submission to hn, so be gentle with me. The app still has
alot of work to do (eg: send email on registration), but I figure that I
shouldn't wait anymore.

~~~
dshipper
The interface could use some work. I don't want to have to press back every
time I add a new question. It was unclear to me whether I should be creating
multiple "questionaires" or adding new questions to one questionnaire. Is
questionnaire the right word for this? Those are just my 30-second reactions.

~~~
mping
I'll think of something to clear up the confusion. I sure need to write a
guide. You shouldn't have to press back, only left click on the questions and
they would be added dynamically.

------
vlokshin
Hmmmmmm, is that twitter bootstrap I see? :) Very nice.

------
cdcarter
If you're looking for a more game like version of this, Health Month has
managed to keep my interest for a little bit now.

------
ricefield
reminds me of Daytum (<http://daytum.com/>)

