Get Everything Done

Seraphim:

I'm not completely opposed to "feature creep", it's just why I keep old versions around. In the long run, I'd like to have the ability to add tasks automatically from other sources. One instance of this that I thought about putting into the next version is time-based trigger. Say you have some routine tasks you want to do daily. This feature would enable you to have them added to you list at a certain time of day. Would that cover your use case or is the separate ability to "snooze" a single task preferable?

Jesse:

Fixed the v1 issue. Btw, are you allowed to execute portable software on your work PC? I'm experimenting with packaging standalone applications for Windows, OS X and Linux.

Other feature ideas rolling around in my head right now:

- an integrated pomodoro timer.
- the ability to switch between multiple lists

I'm not sure. I was able to install Chrome, but if there's a lot of "this would require administrative settings" warnings that pop up.

The text: "Based on FVP Copyright 2015 Mark Forster" doesn't bleed into the gray boxes (Finish, Re-add or the two options) but if there's a wordy task on the "Work on the following task now:" screen it will still be in the middle of the task's words.

And this is on Safari on iOS with an iphone 4s

Jesse:

I can't reproduce this on my iPhone 5s, even with comically long tasks. The credit should move down with the content, so that it's not visible initially and you have to scroll down to see it. Either you still see the old version(try refreshing once more) or something else is wrong.

When you compare two short one-line tasks, where is the copyright notice? Directly below the second task, or is there a gap and the copyright is at the bottom of the screen? If it's at the bottom it's definitely the old version.

I finally got to - Thank Andreas Maurer - on my FVP list!

Your web app has helped me so much. FVP seems like the best system for me so far, but I can't do it nearly as well on paper as I can with your app. When I use paper, I tend to skim along quickly looking at the whole page at once and not doing a disciplined A vs. B, A vs. C comparison. This is not a fault of the FVP system but of me. I seem to have attention surplus disorder and need to look at many items at once.

Your app forces me to do a one on one comparison and I make more thoughtful decisions. I am having a particularly busy time in my life (family member in hospital, major system upgrade this weekend) and the combination of Mark's brilliant system and your fantastic app is keeping me functioning at a higher level than any time I can recall.

The features you recently suggested (time-based trigger, Pomodoro timer, and the ability to switch between multiple lists) would all be wonderful for me. I have many recurring tasks that I have to keep re-adding and then not picking until the appropriate time. I currently use a separate Pomodoro timer. Also, I maintain a separate home and work list by using different computers.

So Andreas, thanks again for your wonderful work and your generosity with your time.

Live long and prosper.

Yup. Refresh got it. That's what I get for never closing the app. Thanks. I appreciate your patience and time.

Thank you so much for implementing this, Andreas! (And thanks to Mark -- I just donated again!)

Alas, I have a tragic story. I was accumulating a list of ideas to include in this post but then lost them all, due to what I think counts as a bug in amFVP, so I'll just describe the bug (alternatively: my stupidity):

I've been using amFVP for a week or so now and loving it. When I noticed how quickly you've been making improvements I impulsively hit Refresh in the middle of a chain, to make sure I was on the latest version. And... sadness! My task list seems to have reverted to what it was days earlier.

For me a key feature of FVP is, as GTD puts it, having a system where you can dump ideas and put them out of your mind with complete faith that your system will bring them back to your attention. So I'm wondering if it would be safer to drop the database and instead have the program write the tasks to a text file every time.

If you could also specify the location of that text file you could point it to a Dropbox folder and have the best of all worlds: local execution and no login, but also the ability to use the same list on different computers. And I'm pretty sure that even if someone went completely overboard and accumulated 100s or 1000s of tasks there'd be no noticeable performance hit from writing and re-reading it all from a text file with every task addition/completion.

Or maybe I'm confused about I managed to lose my latest tasks? Could a rogue browser refresh cause that?

Thanks again for building it and sharing it!

Daniel Reeves:

Could you tell me which browser you used? I'm trying to determine if there is a pattern there. I guess like Jesse, you put in many tasks? I have to do some stress tests. Either my task load is too small to trigger these problems or it's a browser-specific problem.

Sure! I'm Chrome on Mac. And I had under 20 tasks. I guess this means the problem is not reproducible?

Daniel Reeves:

Yes, that is not good at all. I guess saving the tasks in the browser is unreliable in general, even if it seems to work most of the time.

Nothing is worse than a task manager that loses tasks, so I can't really recommend using this app until I changed the underlying storage.

Jesse, Daniel Reeves:

Did you by any chance open the app in multiple bowser windows or tabs at the same time before you lost your progress? I think that might be the issue. At least it's *an* issue I can reproduce and fix.

Major bugfix for both v1 and v2:

The client could get into a state were it wasn't in sync with the database anymore (e.g. by opening multiple browser tabs and then continuing to work in an old one, possibly other causes). This would lead to losing all changes after that moment. To prevent this, any change will now trigger an immediate warning and prompt to refresh if the sync is lost. If that last change was adding tasks, which have not yet been saved to the db, they will be listed on the resulting error page so they can be rescued by copying them.

This is not the most convenient solution, but it should prevent data loss until backend synchronization gets implemented. My apologies to everyone who was affected by this bug. Please be cautious and regularly export your list.

Andreas,

Oh, I'm sure I opened it multiple times, especially on my Chromebook. I set up the address for the web app to open when I opened a new tab so I could have quick entry for fast capturing of ideas and thoughts. I'm very much a student of GTD, where I collect everything that pops into my head.

This is probably why my lists are so so long as well.

I'm very much used to using Google tasks and Google Keep, where it seems to keep stuff synced across every tab and every device, so it was tough to remember to enter things in only one "session" of amFVP. Unfortunately, this and the thought that I could lose my data (even through a mistake I'll probably make myself) builds up "resistance" to collecting the thought in amFVP.

Andreas, I totally did! I was trying the export feature and looking at the javascript source, etc, in other tabs. That probably explains my bug. I will resume using it and let you know if I see any other problems! (I still think the plaintext/dropbox solution instead of pouchdb would be a big improvement and eliminate potential future bugs, ie, keep the tasks always safe and sound and human-readable in a text file.)

PS: Any chance of getting this on GitHub?

wow, I just tried this out for the first time, and it's really wonderful. I love the prioritization process and the way it hides everything except what you should be working on right now. Really terrific, thank you.

Jesse:

Quite understandable. I would resist putting things into a system that previously lost some of them, too.

Daniel:

I'm looking into Dropbox sync, hopefully v3 will have it. I'll also put v3 on GitHub.

Everyone:

Just to explain my recent lack of activity, my wife went into labour on Friday night and I am now proud father of a newborn son. It's my first child, so my life is changing a lot right now and I have less time in general.

Congratulations, Andreas! That's great. I hope you all have a lot of fun together. Kids are so cool.

Congratulations! The app is very functional as it is so we can survive without any tweaking or updates. Focus on your family (add that to your FVP list). We'll be here when you have more time.

I'm using amFVP on differente PCs with different browsers. With MS explorer it always work correctly. On the contrary, with chrome and firefox sometime it does not work: the buttons on the top right part of the page do not react to clicking, so it becomes impossible to load the list of tasks.

Someone else is having the same experience? Any workaround?

Thank you

I have seen this too, in Firefox. however for me, clicking a 2nd or 3rd time usually works.

nick61, Beth:

After looking into your issue, I found that the SVG icons in the buttons sometimes swallowed the click event. The second or third click worked because you slightly moved the cursor between clicks. I never stumbled upon this because I tend to click buttons in the lower-right corner area. I fixed the issue for v2 (v1 doesn't have it because it has no SVG icons). Please refresh your browser and check if it works for you.

Windows: IE (ok), Firefox (OK), Chrome (OK)
Linux: Firefox (OK), Chrome (OK)

Thanks a lot!

Cool, thanks!

Heh. I'm actually back to using version one on my iphone. My paper list got too unwieldy, and having most of the list "under the hood" is pretty helpful for me.

This is awesome, Andreas! Congratulations on the new baby. I'm looking forward to the Dropbox sync - it's the last missing piece before I can get rid of my backup text file entirely!

Andreas, I'm curious if v3 is available or how it's coming along.

Jesse:

Unfortunately, it's not progressing very well at the moment. Between my job and my new family, I have very little time left for other things. I also have to admit that it doesn't help that v2 does everything I really need for myself.

On the other hand, I do have lots of ideas I want to try out, so I'm trying to put at least some work into it on weekends.

I get you. Please don't feel obligated, by the way. I just was curious. I'm a fan!

Hi Andreas, any ideas about a brand new 5T web app?

... from another fan

Is the 5T app available?

nick61, Jesse:

I hadn't considered creating a 5T app. But the algorithm isn't that complicated. If you're okay with it not having more features than amFVP v2, I can whip something up in one or two days.

Since this thread has already been brought back to the top of the forum, I'll use this opportunity to move my book giveaway (which no one took me up on so far) to a separate thread in the general forum. So if you want the books, do not reply to this thread anymore, but to this one:
http://markforster.squarespace.com/forum/post/2541679