Let’s work through the principles outlined in … for the next few days.
This is a dump of thoughts I had while brainstorming and is definitely not complete or finished.
You get a little peak into the process of working out an app design.
First up: Your planning app is used in three key modes: adding work, planning work, doing work.
Three Modes: No More or Less?
There might be additional modes.
Adding work is not just adding new tasks/appointments in the future, it’s also looking at your future schedule to avoid conflicts. Those could be separate modes.
While planning, you are both moving things around and adding new things. Maybe those are separate modes.
While doing work, there are two different types of cues, at least: one for getting back on the plan or adjusting, that isn’t as urgent, and one for remembering appointments that are time sensitive. These two are the most likely to justify having different modes.
Or maybe there aren’t as many as three. Adding work and doing work could be combined. There’s just planning and doing. While doing, it’s useful to be able to add new items.
Despite all this, I still feel good about keeping these three modes (and only these three) distinct.
Of course, the lines won’t necessarily be very sharp or defined in the final app, because these three modes really just represent the three main use cases. You don’t manually switch modes every time, but use the app in a way that makes sense given what you’re doing.
For example, adding work (in a perfect world) might not even be “using” the app. Maybe you just tell your Amazon Echo or Google Home to add a task. Or use Siri or Hey Google.
Switching Between Modes
First is planning mode, because that will be the most defined. You could enter it by explicitly choosing to plan the next day (or week/month/year). Once you’re in the mode, you work out your plan and when you feel good about it, you “finish”, again explicitly letting the app know you’re done. This takes you out of planning mode and back into “doing mode”.
Doing mode is where the app lives most of the time. For at-a-glance cues, it’s there when you need it. Going to the app naturally scrolls you to the point in the day where you likely are, focusing your attention on the next hour or three of planned work. It’s those next few hours that you are going to be either doing, or adjusting your plans for.
Adding mode feels like it should have a separate entry point. 95% of the time, you’ll be adding something for a later date. If you’re adding to today, using doing mode makes the most sense. Not that you want to have to choose, but usually when you’re adding a task for today, it’s something that you’re working into your schedule because you’re already looking at it.
Adding mode could have many entry points: voice entry, emails, texts, from other apps like web browsers or slack. But maybe the most common is just a single entry point that gives you a text entry field.
But of course, the secondary aspect of adding mode, where you can see a schedule for a day in the future, that doesn’t really work with all those other entry points, except maybe as an option in the last one. It also requires that ticklers be entered a certain way, so that the app can know which to include on a given day in the future. That mode starts when you pick a date, which could then be used for the thing you choose to add to your tickler.
There’s an idea.
Your Device Defines Your Mode
One thought is to consider that all three modes have different primary form factors:
Planning mode is all about a large screen, so you can see all your lists in one place. Best to have that on a tablet, laptop, or PC.
Doing mode works great on a phone, something you’ve always got with you. But many who work on laptops or tablets will use those in doing mode as well.
And adding mode can be in any form factor, even screenless ones (again, excepting the variation where you need to see into the future).
Healthy and Unhealthy Friction
These modes are really about making the app work intuitively, naturally, and without unnecessary friction. For healthy friction, there should be a clear transition to and from planning mode. But the features available in doing mode and adding mode are going to always be available and easily accessible, i.e. low friction. They will primarily be defined by not being in planning mode, as well as the device you’re using.