Up to now, I’ve been outlining a product vision for Cue that is fairly complete.
But, as I pointed out at the beginning, Cue is far from that vision now.
There is a long way to go.
So let’s explore what a minimum viable product would be.
The question really is: “what is required to be able to charge for Cue?”
Scaling Back
Of course, there must be value in Cue to charge money for it. If it’s scaled back to just a simple todo app, then it’s no more than an experiment in coding. Besides, there is already a Blockstack todo app, though it just has one list.
The key to scaling back is zeroing in on the differentiating features of Cue: the tickler file, the planning mode multiple-list view, the task inbox, and maybe simple cue reminders. But probably not the reminders.
There’s plenty there to figure out. The big questions are how to handle months with five weeks vs four weeks, how to make planning work well when you’ve missed some days (DON’T MISS DAYS!), and how to make multi-list view in planning mode very usable.
Each one of those could get pretty tricky. All of the challenging edge cases don’t need to be handled, but the straightforward use cases should just work in a way that makes sense.
The Cost of Entry
Beyond the key differentiators, there also is a basic “cost of entry” into the market for planning apps. Things like:
• Sync across devices
• Responsive design so it can be used on desktops or phones
• Basic keyboard support (we are dealing with a productivity app, after all)
• Time zones handling
• A simple way to pay for it
• Etc.
I’m sure I’ll stumble on more of these as I go, and I’m also sure some of them won’t be strictly necessary.
Saying No
What this means is that I will definitely be saying no to some features, at least as features in the initial product.
Just going back through the last few emails, the things I’ll definitely be saying no to are:
• Habit tracking
• Journaling
• Cue reminders
• Dates and future view when adding items
• Native apps
• Priorities
• Tags
• Labels
• Subtasks
• And much more…
Of course, some of those things will end up in future versions. But some just don’t fit with the vision for Cue, whether it’s the minimum vision or the maximum vision.
Speaking of maximum vision, let’s explore that tomorrow.
Until then, happy planning.