Show HN: I built a task manager that separates "do" and "due" dates

[zesfy]

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zesfy-planner-calendar/id6479947874

Hi HN,

I’m the founder of Zesfy, a productivity app that I’ve been developing over the past few years. It’s designed to seamlessly integrate your tasks with your calendar, allowing you to transform your to-do lists into actionable events in just seconds. Here are some of its key features:

  - Task Progress: Automatically update your progress based on subtasks completed
  - Step: Create step-by-step breakdown of the subtask
  - Target: Organize tasks with due date
  - Session: Insert multiple tasks to calendar event
  - Space: Filter event from specific sets of calendars

I recently introduced new features that often missing from other productivity apps: the ability to set both “Do” and “Due” dates. With these features, you can effortlessly plan your tasks for the day while keeping track the upcoming due dates. What makes Zesfy unique is it separates tasks you’ve planned and those that are already scheduled in your calendar, giving you a more organized and flexible workflow.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zesfy-planner-calendar/id64799...

[thenaturalist]

I have ADHD and hence am generally quite interested in apps in this space.

Maybe it's just me but I found the app controls to be way too small, too many onboarding walk through steps and way too much information density in the Task screen.

Progress, Highlight, Due Date, different lists - it's a lot.

It seems to me you wanted to pack a punch, but it's so dense and so many steps involved that it falls into the productivity fallacy for me: It's increasing my executive disfunction and makes it harder and cumbersome to add tasks instead of reducing it.

One app that really works for me, does one thing and does it well is for example Due: https://apps.apple.com/de/app/due-erinnerungen-timer/id39001...

Not affiliated in any way with the app or it's creator.

When it comes to apps like these, less is more for me.

[bbminner → thenaturalist]

For years I have been fiddling with the idea of a personal task management system that synchronized status, due dates, prioritization, planning, projects, etc across platforms, and came to a conclusion that nothing beats a flat text file (with own notation for all the above) synchronized well across devices via something reliable yet lightweight like google keep, that I "scan, update, reorder" at least once a day.

One huge insight was a notation to keep track of blocked tasks (usually by other people) and what/whom to "poll" periodically to check the status.

[ozim → bbminner]

I pay for Todoist because all the other synchronization stuff requires my attention or somehow is not supported well.

Ideally I would like to have git available on iPhone and Apple tablets then I could use my repo that I have notes in on laptops and android phones.

Well I am pissed by poor text editing on iPhone anyway so I will go back to android and then I can go back to text file with git on private repo.

[amiantos → ozim]

> Ideally I would like to have git available on iPhone and Apple tablets

I'd like to introduce you to Working Copy

- https://apps.apple.com/us/app/working-copy-git-client/id8966... - https://workingcopy.app

[amenghra → bbminner]

Getting things done (GTD) has a notion of “waiting for”. Lots of people successfully follow GTDs structure methodologically.

[w10-1]

The App Store flow is about abstract features so to me it doesn’t speak to value.

Eg it’s easy to know when something’s due, but really hard to know when to work on what —- what to do when. Saying “schedule easily” sort of buries the lede.

I wonder if a leading panel talking about the frustrating churn of planning ( implicitly trading the urgent against the important) would activate more people and also provide the right keywords for finding the app via search

[pivo]

I can't install it because I have an older (2020) Intel mac and it requires an M1 or later chip. Is that an accident or is there a real dependency on Apple CPUs?

[ceejayoz → pivo]

Yes. iOS apps can run natively on Apple Silicon Macs, but not on Intel.

[dirkc]

Nice, it looks good and polished!

I liked the on-boarding. I don't like the first screen being a pitch for a subscription, but I get that you probably need to sell hard to get subscriptions.

I've recently launched a small app on the app store and it's no where near as polished! How long have you been working on it?

[zesfy → dirkc]

Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad that you like the onboarding.

I get your point about the subscription screen. It's something that I've been experimenting for a while. I found many users activate the subscription during the onboarding, that's why I keep it.

I've been working on this app for almost 5 years at this point. Also, congrats for the app. Feel free to share the link, I'd love to check it out.

[wwalexander]

Very important distinction! Apple recently added an “Early Reminder” feature that allows similar functionality which I am very grateful for.

[mlangenberg → wwalexander]

And since Sonoma and iOS 18, Calendar and Reminders are finally integrated, so it’s easy to see upcoming reminders.

[TimTheTinker]

I'm always interested in potentially helpful systems for organizing my tasks...

But I'm not interested in another rent payment, full stop.

[mulderc]

Interesting, might recommend this to some others that use a calendar in this way but feel like Omnifocus can already essentially do this with forecast view.

[atorodius]

It is not quite the same but Things from Cultured code does the

- do vs due date

- subproject progress view

and is just generally a super awesome app that brought me a lot of peace

[koliber]

I’m wondering if there are any apps that combine the functionality of a todo list and a calendar with the concept of a daily agenda. I use Notion to do this but it requires manual work.

Each morning I create a daily agenda. I pull in my calendar entries. I also pull things I plan on doing from my todo list. I generally work off of my daily agenda.

When the day is over I put everything with doing back to the todo list.

[bloopernova → koliber]

It's going to be work to get it set up, but Emacs + org-mode will do those things for you. Example:

  ** PROG [#C] Meeting with Bob and Alice
  SCHEDULED: <2024-10-23 Wed 18:00-18:30>

That's a TODO item in the PROG state (TODO->PROG->DONE, I like 4-letter words to keep the columns aligned) with priority C, and the meeting is scheduled from 1800 to 1830.

Clicking on the date or calling `org-agenda-list` which in my instance is bound to `C-c a a` will show something like this:

  Tuesday    22 October 2024
  Wednesday  23 October 2024
                8:00 ┄┄┄┄┄ ┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄
                10:00 ┄┄┄┄┄ ┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄
                12:00 ┄┄┄┄┄ ┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄
                14:00 ┄┄┄┄┄ ┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄
                16:00 ┄┄┄┄┄ ┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄
                17:13 ┄┄┄┄┄ ◀── now ─────────────────────────────────────────────────
    2024-10-21: 18:00-18:30 Scheduled:  PROG [#C] WAF Updates
                18:00 ┄┄┄┄┄ ┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄
                20:00 ┄┄┄┄┄ ┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄
    2024-10-21: TODO [#D] Issues from deployment
  Thursday   24 October 2024

Unfortunately (or fortunately?) this doesn't sync my work office365 calendar. I can sync Jira tickets though :)

[dotancohen → koliber]

  > I’m wondering if there are any apps that combine the functionality of a todo list and a calendar with the concept of a daily agenda.

Org mode (emacs)

[trinix912 → koliber]

I remember using Lotus Organizer for this until I switched over to macOS a few years ago. I still haven't found a good alternative that combines it all in one place and is as lightweight. It had all those goodies like automatically moving undone ToDo's to the next day, a lot of options for reminders/due dates, schedule conflict checker etc.

Notion is great, but I too find the extra work distracting and unnecessary.

[venatiodecorus → koliber]

Todoist handles this pretty well now with their new calendar view and updated Google Calendar integration. I believe it also handles other calendar services.

[swah → koliber]

Around 8... maybe ask on /r/productivity! You just reminded me I'm paying for Skedpal but not using it..

[FredPret → koliber]

If you’re an Apple person, consider Things. It’s a classic.

[zie]

For todos anymore, I just create issues in my VCS UX of choice(self-hosted Forgejo for me), but Github, Gitlab, Gitea, etc all do the same sorts of things. I think they do basically everything on the above list, with the exception of calendar exporting. Though I'm sure one could write that fairly easily if they wanted.

I just keep a private repo called 'mylife' and everything goes in it, my private notes/journals/etc are just text file git commits in the same repo.

That said, if I was looking for a new system, outside of my control, I'd def. check this out.

[mstudio]

Looks great! Cool idea and a very clean interface. One note on the website: the "Calendar / Todo / Project" nav buttons throw 404 errors when clicked.

[zesfy → mstudio]

Thanks for the kind words and for pointing that out. I'll get that fixed right away.

[layer8]

Is “do date” the same as what is commonly called a “start date”? The latter is the most useful date IMO, in conjunction with being able to hide all tasks whose start date hasn’t been reached yet.

[proee]

NotePlan is my favorite comparable app. It has super nice apps for Mac desktop and iOS. It also syncs your data to your iCloud account in text files so very good for privacy in that you are not storing you data on their servers.

[thenaturalist → proee]

It's absolute bonkers to me that anyone would pay 8-10 USD per month in this day and age for an app like this.

Not saying all SaaS = bad, but for the functionality it provides, there are boatloads of cheaper options out there.

Value is relative, so maybe I'm also just too poor.

[content_content]

How can I show my Google calendars on here? Also, any plans for a desktop app? I hate interacting with calendars on my phone :(

[zesfy → content_content]

Zesfy syncs with your iOS calendar, so if you’ve already added your Google account to your iPhone’s calendar, all your Google events will show up in the app. Just make sure to turn on "Show iOS Calendars" on the app settings and you're good to go.

I'm planning to add supports for iPad and Mac in the future, probably PWA too if there is enough demand for it.

[yapyap]

What’s the difference between the free and pro?

[Suppafly]

>separates "do" and "due" dates

That's a great distinction to make.

[bitbasher]

Missed opportunity.. should have named it dodue.

[thinky_thoughts]

What if you're due to... Do the dew?

[briandilley]

You missed an opportunity to name your app "DoDue"