Software project - need input

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I’m working on developing a visual basic program for a school project. I came up with a concept to write a program that will help myself and other Aspies to be more productive in completing tasks. I find that I’m so focused on other things I forget to do laundry or that I left something on the stove. I used to have similar issues at my workplace when I was working (I’m a full-time student right now). I’m assuming I’m not the only one who has this type of problem. I've tried all kinds of existing methods from post-it notes to printed checklists to online calendars but in my experience nothing has really worked that well.

I’m still in the very beginning planning phase and would like some input. (It’s due in about 6 weeks, so I need to keep it reasonably simple.) Do you have problems remembering to complete tasks? If so, what do you think would help you remember? Do you have your own system for remembering things?

Thanks!

I have problems remembering to do things - I also have problems motivating myself to do them. Even if I remember, if I'm in the middle of writing, I'll put it off (well, I'm a writer, and all writers go that far, so that might not be too bad), but if I'm reading something interesting, I'll put it off, if I'm petting one of my cats, I'll put it off...

And I've hunted down and tried every single open source, freeware, and "free trial" software out there for Windows which is meant to serve as a reminder tool of one sort or another. Calendars, PIMs, to-do applications, you name it. Every single one of them has the same basic failing, at least for me. There has to be some way to dismiss that message, and it is far too easy to do. (In the few tools I've tried that made it a bit harder, I'd just write an AHK script or something to automate the process because it was interrupting and annoying me.) So very quickly, I just mindlessly, automatically dismiss the reminder without even glancing at it, because I'm focused on something else. The tools designed to nag don't work, either. I just tell them I've finished the task, no matter what I've really done, just to get them off my back.

Now, I'm desperate for something that will work. I'd like to find an answer. But it's just too easy to game the software, and I'm just too caught up in something else I don't want it distracting me from. If a person who knows me and understands how I work picks their moment, they can sometimes get me to listen. But software is too rigid - it's a bit like the phone, in that it always "goes off" at exactly the wrong moment. So to survive, I have to learn to "game" it.

Maybe there are those this won't apply to. Or maybe you can find a way to design something I couldn't "game". But you ought to at least think about this weakness before you move on.

Actually (this is how my mind works, sorry), while describing this, I did think of a feature I've never seen on any of these tools - and would love to see included, because it would make them far more useful. Simply design it so it looks for a good "idle" period before popping up a reminder. (Say three minutes, although off the top of my head, I'm not sure if that's enough. Perhaps the "idle" period should be adjustable by the user. In fact, it should definitely be, to meet individual quirks, since we are not all alike.) The point to this is simple: it won't annoy me in the midst of writing, say, so I won't feel as desperate to get it off my back. That way, I won't get into the habit of making it just go away. (By "idle", I'd say the keyboard would have to be not in use for that amount of time, and also the CPU or HDD should not be doing anything heavy duty - because at those moments I'm usually waiting for them to get done whatever they're doing so I can get on with my life. Just as the interval should be adjustable, perhaps you could make each of these types of activity something the user could switch on and off - just a simple binary choice.)

Edited to add: If you do introduce this feature, any chance you'd either release this as freeware (I hope it will work on XP ) or share it with the person who made the suggestion?

Wonderful input, theWanderer! I do that too. Often times I absolutely forget and when I'm reminded I leap up and run to do it right away but there's also times I just put it off or ignore it. This is why even the seemingly obvious solution of slapping post-it notes everywhere doesn't seem to work for me. I'm very quick to ignore their existence no matter the choice of annoying color or how bold my sharpie.

I like the idea of reminding during an idle. I would think not too long into it or perhaps the user walked away. Then again it would still be there when they got back so that could work. I'm going to think about this. Perhaps, changing up the notification's visuals/sounds/location on screen would also help. Like changing an alarm clock sound because you got used to ignoring it.

The class is really more focused on creating good GUIs and not so much about the VB so I asked my instructor if we had the option to make our project an app for a tablet or smartphone, I think that would be ideal as it would be an application you could take with you everywhere, but he told me to stick to the laptop/desktop platform for this project. I could see pursuing making an app on my own after the project is over if I can create something useful here.

I'd definitely be inclined to share it with people who contributed their input to the development of it. I'm primarily concerned with making something that actually helps me and others function better and not so much motivated by financial gain off it. It should be able to run on XP, I was just looking into that last night as I was writing up preliminary system requirements for my proposal paper.

Thank you for the in-depth response. Definitely something to consider.

Maybe you could assign different tasks a priority and time length variable......from there you could determine what else is possible to accomplish in the time frame. I'm sure you can import the system time somehow and incorporate it with alarms possibly. That's the only way I can remember stuff is by alarms.

Why would focus on the GUI be the main concern? Without a viable program behind it what's the use lol

We already learned to code in visual basic in the prerequisite course. This one is more focused on developing your own application from start to finish. One of the big points the instructor made was that the reason Windows won the OS war was their user interface, because it clearly lacked the stability and functionality of the other ones. We're learning a lot about human perception, etc. I really didn't expect the class to be like this. I thought we were just going to be doing advanced coding.

There is a way to tap into the system's "DateTime". I have not done that before so that's something I'm trying to figure out. I'm probably going to have to figure out the syntax by trial and error.
Seems like some tasks are one and done and others may have steps to time out. Like I'm thinking step 1, put laundry in, step 2 (maybe an hour later) alarm to remind to put load in dryer, step 3 (another hour later) remove from dryer & fold. I wind up forgetting all about laundry at some point during that process so it would be good if it could remind me to follow through.

Yeah, some tasks are higher priority or need to be at a specific time, like appointments. So, I'm thinking there will have to be different categories of reminders I need to figure into it.

Clearly lacked the stability and functionality of the other ones? Yes?

Won because of the user interface? Uh, no. Read up on Microsoft's marketing tactics back in the day, especially the bits about how they forced PC makers to sign contracts whereby the PC maker paid Microsoft a fee for Windows even if they shipped the computer without Windows - thus every PC maker shipped PCs only with Windows, allowing Microsoft to saturate the market and especially at that time, gave many people their first computing experience on Windows - so they became used to it and more or less locked in.

Well, Windows did clearly lack stability and functionality.

I have to agree, though, Windows did not win because of the user interface. My first use of Windows was 3.1 - and Windows was already dominant then. The only way I managed to retain my sanity was the fact I also had something called Norton Desktop, a Windows shell program which essentially fixed a huge number of problems with the Windows interface. Even with those fixes, I preferred sticking to DOS whenever I could. Of course, it was MS-DOS, because that was the only choice left by then. MS had already crushed all the other makers of various DOS versions. Then, of course, MS trampled Norton down into a little niche market, and many people have never heard of Norton Desktop.

Then I got Windows 95 shoved down my throat. That was the least stable, least functional thing I've ever had to endure. And the user interface was still worse than what I'd had with Norton Desktop running under Windows 3.1 - so awful, the only way I ever managed to survive the experience was to acquire a couple of books that taught me how to tweak things until it was at least marginally bearable. And I found it noteworthy that the book I first started using, which offered advice that worked, contradicted a lot of things printed in MS own expensive, official manual - and the things MS said didn't work.

I can confirm the fact PC makers wouldn't ship a machine without Windows - on several occasions, Dell salespeople outright refused to sell me such a machine. Not sure what the fine print of their contract said, but they wouldn't let me have one under any circumstances. And at least claimed the only drivers for those machines were limited to Windows and could not be used with any other OS. One of those times, I was even forced to pay for a copy of MS Office that I didn't want and hardly ever used along with my new machine. (I already owned WordPerfect for Windows. And vastly preferred it.)

Sorry, but I suspect your instructor either knows very little about what really happened, or else drank the offered Kool-Aid during a tour of MS headquarters. (Sorry, I couldn't resist that. I loathed MS until Windows 98 came out - which was, essentially, just a bug fix for Win95 - and those aren't my words; that was what the authors of the book that helped me survive Win95 said, which got me to upgrade, even if I hated the notion of paying for a bug fix. I was at least able to live with Win98 and WinXP without too much misery, but the direction they're taking Windows in now, XP will be the last product I ever buy from them. And I can't say I'll miss them...)

Actually my professor is a big Linux fan. I think the only time he uses Windows is on the network at school.
I'm dual booting Win 7/ Linux Ubuntu on my laptop. I'll write my program on MS Visual Basic 2010 for class but I'm going to try out Mono to run it on Linux too.

I found the code to tap into monitoring for computer idle, btw.

I'm probably still not conveying what we're learning very well, but our whole last class was about not using red or green or things that trigger seizures or clutter the screen with too much stuff. We still have to determine what exactly our program is going to do before we even think about GUI layout though.

I'm with you theWanderer, Windows 8 is just weird. I'm glad I bought my new laptop a couple months before it came out. Vista had issues but I haven't had problems with Windows 7. Still, I don't like monopolies and am all too happy to use an alternative OS or application.

I use 'event' to plan my work. I split all things in small subtask quick to do. The end of one of them create an event that relaunch me on another one. That keep me motivated, may be because things seem to advance. I have the feeling that I have done something. I also use a calendar to raise an 'interrupt' for taks requiring imediate attension in her time or for periodic task (house keeping, birthdays of peoples, etc.). But, nevertheless, this need to discipline yourself...

I've come up with the idea to start a timer you can see running that says "It's been [time] since you completed a task. " It will reset each time you check a task complete. I'm trying to come op with other incentive based ideas that is more based to the procrastinator.
I've also a quick timer for more on the fly, urgent things like you put a pot on the stove and need to check it in 10 minutes. Personally, I forget about things as soon as I walk out of the room.
I'm trying to design it with simple controls so users won't think it's a pain to use. I'm trying to make it easy and little effort.
I'm designing interfaces now. I'll keep posting. Input appreciated.

I love the "timer idea". It would also help to maybe code an OS overlay. Basically, a program that would interlace itself into the OS of the computer, to help make you more productive. Something that would...say, prevent you from gaming or checking Facebook until a certain action is completed (i.e.: Uploading an assignment to a certain website). Or say, typing "such amount of words" for a school essay assignment.

LOL that would be a very useful AND painful function. That may be beyond the scope of my little Visual Basic school project but probably a good inclusion in a possibly more comprehensive version of the application down the road. I'd also like future versions to be more customizable/thematic. I was leaning toward making it more fun/witty to keep users engaged but then realized that not all potential users may have the same mental capacity so decided to just leave it simple.

Well, I submitted my project. Still had a couple timing glitches. I'm also noticing that when I'm running it, as I intended it to be, for personal use along with other programs that it's freezing up. It's ok if you're just using it but it may not be hearty enough to be running 24/7 and going into and out of powersave mode, etc. I'm probably going to be learning Python now so I'm thinking I'll probably convert it from VB and work out the rest of the kinks. As I understand it VB was originally a modeling language and not a full language like the others.