Sunday, October 14, 2012

Habits update.

Just have uploaded new version of the app - 0.7.10.9. We did it just seconds ago, so it hasn't even appeared on the Play Store, but we immediately want to write what's new.

First of all, we've fixed a bug that we would not notice if not reports from you - in the previous version we've introduced the password timeout setting. It controls how many minutes to wait before rechecking password when you re-enter the app, provided the system hasn't killed the app completely and cleared the resources. This shouldn't be the case when you return to the app within the few minutes after closing it. So, when you entered a high number into this field, the app crashed. And couldn't be restarted withouth re-install. We've got a report about this bug, and fixed it. Thanks a lot for taking time to send it to us!

We've also fixed the 'Move to action' functionality. It was not really visible, but inside it wasn't working quite correctly. We've also optmized the algorithm.

In the previous versions of the app, when changing the goal of an action (the set goal functionality), the app didn't let you move the action which was either a child of another action or contained sub-actions itself. This was rather annoying and the app missed this what seems to be natural operation. Now everything is ok with it :).

The logic for moving an action to another goal is simple and intuitive:

  • if the action is simple, just move it (i.e., set new goal)
  • if the action is a child of another action, you can change its goal, but it will be a top-level action - its parent will be cleared
  • if the action is a parent of other actions, you can change its goal, too, but then all the sub-actions will have their goal changed, too.
Another improvement - 'Goal unset' filter on the First Things First and Actions pages. You can now filter actions which don't have any goal set.

Hope you'll like the new features.

Again, thanks a lot for your feedback - here, in the reviews or as part of FC reports :). We do really appreciate it!

34 comments:

  1. Can u one example, which can us give overall functionality of the application:)

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  2. I love this app and would be willing to pay for it, but can I provide some feedback here first??

    1. Sync with other calendar and to-do apps is crucial: when I create Actions for Goals I need those Actions to display on my Google Calendar and in my ToDo Task Manager widget. Otherwise I have to keep checking the Habits app for what to do each day.

    2. Sort Roles alphabetically by Name

    3. I'm not sure that I understand properly the theory of prioritising by Quadrants - what's point of Q4? Who is ever going to prioritise an Action as a Q4: not urgent and not important? I don't usually plan for 'time-wasting' into my calendar... :

    3. Exporting to other formats for printing would be useful, or at least to have a web based app that we can access from a PC connected to a printer.

    4. A web system would also help as a Backup in the cloud.

    5. It's not good to have a "fixed" Planning Week. We should be able to slot an Action into a week in the future, not just the current one. If I am planning my week ahead on a Sunday, at the moment I can only slot Actions into last Monday-Friday slots, rather than into NEXT Monday-Friday slots!!

    6. Perhaps Actions should be slotted automatically into Planning Week days when due date is on current week.

    7. It would be helpful to be able to Search for Actions from anywhere in the app. It's cumbersome at present to find specific Actions.

    8. It would help to display an Action in full when touched on the Quadrants.

    9. What does Star-Current do?

    10. Can we distinguish between Long-term & Short-term goals?

    11. Allow sorting Actions based on Due Date.

    By the way, I know lots of Covey fans and facilitators in Europe and would be willing to tell them about this app - but some of the functionality above is critical (especially no. 1).

    I hope you can develop some of these features. Then it will really be a great tool for Effectiveness!!

    Luison Lassala
    Dublin, Ireland

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    1. Hi Luison,

      Thanks a lot for your elaborate feedback! This is a big list :). We're working on some points, some others crossed our minds as "would be nice to have", yet others are to think about. For now, let me try to answer some of your questions.

      3. It is good you don't spend your time on 'time-wasting' actions, which means, as we understand it, you don't enter them into your planning system. It should actually save time. But, often for some people (incl. us), it's better to write down that action first, to see it in front of yourself on a 'paper' (cleaning your mind) and then deciding where this action belongs to. We believe not everyone should use same system of planning, because we're all different, thus having such possibility might be of a great help. Also, sometimes it happens that you change your mind about the importance and urgency of an action and move it from square to square.

      5. Yes, having a simple (simplest) way to assign days to actions has such a 'bug' with planning on Sunday next week's actions - you see them actually 'behind' in the current week view. This will go away when (and if :)) a calendar-style day assigning is implemented. But we actually like this 1-week planning: you have less obligations, can easily skip doing action today and auto-postpone it to next week, you see all the actions in front of you, it simplifies using this abstract window. And we like everything that is simple :)

      9. Star-Current is described here: http://andtek.blogspot.com/2012/03/habits-current-action-widget.html.

      We won't cover other points because, as we said above, we either are working on some of them, or agree on others, or think they're worth thinking of :).

      Best regards,
      AndTek

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    2. Thanks. Looking forward to the updates, especially the ability to synch with other apps.
      Keep up the good work!!

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  3. Hey there -
    As noted before, I love this program. Best program i own.
    I was wondering if I could sync the backup file with dropbox and open it on other android devices - Would this work? Theres a program called dropsync that helps keep stuff synced. Thought I could use this until you develop a formal sync.

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    1. Hi!
      We'll definitely take a look on the possibilities to use dropbox, thanks for pointing to the program!
      Best regards,
      AndTek

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  4. Hi,

    I miss a copy/paste (duplicate) feature for the tasks.
    What do you think?

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    1. Hi Carlos, copy/paste feature is being worked on. We understand you mean making a duplicate of an action/goal/role, right? We're thinking in that way.

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  5. Hi, some feedback to make this even better.
    I should explain my terms
    - Quadrant = one of the four areas or boxes in 'first things first' i.e. Important and urgent, or not important and urgent. etc They are currently number 1 - 4.
    - Quadrant View - the page that shows all 4 quadrants as coloured boxes.

    a) in 'first things first' make the app remember if I have used the zoom on the quadrant view. I hate having to reset the zoom to full each time. Better still, imho, the only zoom required is the one with a full screen with the boxes.
    b) when assigning a goal to an 'action', I could not work this out, it was hidden in the menu. And even when I found it, the layout to choose the goal is very confusing. the goals should be grouped under each role, without the role heading repeated. The current layout gives me a headache when looking through the list. seriously!
    c) once a task is marked as completed, don't show it on the quadrant view. it's done! I need to see the others that are there, not the crossed out one. having to remove them all the time is tiresome.
    d) tap and hold to add a new task to a quadrant would be great.
    e) I did not find any widgets helpful, I would want a widget that is the full quadrant view with tasks. i.e. the first things first view as a widget with full zoom for boxes. (and allow for resizing!)
    f) side swipe to change between each section, (first things first, roles, Mission etc).
    g) side swipe to change between quadrants when viewing a particular quadrant.
    h) tapping the heading (such as 'first things first' should drop down a list of the other sections to allow quick changing.
    i) when adding a new 'action' after clicking on a quadrant (using the + in top right) the keyboard (on my SII) overlays the field so I cannot see what I am typing.
    j) when in the first thing first quadrant view, tapping a 'Action' should open it to be edited or marked as complete. at the moment it does nothing in the zoomed view, and 'selects it down the bottom in the none zoomed view. selecting it down the bottom is painful, I want to see all of the 'action' in one tap. Your current approach makes things far more complex than they need to be.
    k) When viewing the list of actions for a particular quadrant, tapping an action should open it to edit, not just show it down the bottom. Fustrating to tap so many times just to change something.
    l) why is there a priority setting for an action, that is conflicting with the quadrants?
    m) Allow tasks to be moved between quadrants by dragging on quadrant view.
    n) in 'my roles' view, show the goals for each role without requiring us to click into each. the list can be scrolled. I need to see the full picture of all goals and roles.
    o) when clicking a tick for a 'goal' in the 'role view' it opens the goal, instead of marking the goal as complete.
    p)in the 'filter menu' on the first things first quadrant view, I have to tap filter by goal, and then I see the list. I suggest you show the list of goals and roles immediately, i.e. 'filter by goal... and list all goals. same for roles. reduces three taps into two. but also clearer to user.

    hope this helps. I really think these types of changes are required to get more people interested in using this app. I am persistent and worked through these problems, but most other people are not.

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    1. I reset my tablet and had to reinstall, but
      dread facing the multiple issues you mentioned that I experienced before.
      My day planner & notebook work in the meantime.

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    2. Hi, sorry, too, for such a late reply. We've actually read your feedback the time you wrote and were very delighted by so detailed points. They mean you've actually used the app and thus very valueable. Thank you!

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  6. How can we set a reminder for actions due date and time? Am I missing something in existing features?

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    1. Agree... I've been wondering about that too.

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  7. Any news on any upcoming updates?

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    1. Hi, sorry for late reply, still can't make everything up to date in letter and post replies. No definite update to come in nearest future, we're (me mainly) are working on some features, will tell about them a bit later, all as part of requests. En route, enhancing existing feature to make using more pleasant and natural. We are using the app ourselves, so it's important for us :)

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    2. Awesome! Can't wait!

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  8. Hi
    Are there any fora or some online community where it is possible to exchange experiences ,discuss and just talk whith other users?

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  9. I just installed your app and I'm really interested in it. When should we be expecting an update?

    Also, do you have any timetable on when the syncing with multiple devices/to a PC functionality is coming? I really hope that's a priority, it seems to get requested a lot. I'm also really interested in knowing about syncing to other apps.

    Thanks

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    1. Hi Jamie, updates are coming out as soon as we make something worth posting. When will be the next one we can't say for sure. We work on this part-time and have really little time we can allocate. Thus the process is slower than we wished it were. Still, hope the app in its current shape helps you.

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  10. Hi

    Just wondering if you would be willing to share your code through an open source project to enable another Android developer to join you in further enhancing the app functionality? I really believe in Covey's 7 habits and would like to integrate these features with Google calendar as well as incl a share feature so users can share their goals with accountability partners.

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    1. Hi Ray,

      Thanks for writing and for trying out the app. I'm afraid, we won't share the code at this time.

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  11. Hello,
    Thank you for your hard work and a wonderful app!
    It would be awesome if we could change the order of the goals and subgoals.
    Could you make this part of the next update? :D

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    1. Hi,
      Thank you for your nice words and trying out the app :)
      You can actually change the order of goals under roles. Or order of roles on the My Roles page - just drag it by holding the three squares at the end of each role/goeal item in a list. Or is it something else you mean?

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  12. Hi, no, there is not. The app is not finished, we've decided to make howtos, etc., when we're done with main functionality.

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  13. First, this app is great! It is the only one that combines the 2 features of (a) setting a due date for a task and (b) setting a day on which to work on this task!

    I also got feedback for you:
    1) Please embed an optimized layout for tablets, there is WAY to much unused space and the text-boxes are much too big!
    2) A search-option for tasks would be definitely useful!
    3) When I want to view all actions for a specific goal, it is very distracting that I can't display ALL goals but only the ones for each quadrant! Pleasy improve!
    4) Other apps (like Any.DO) have the option to set "undefined" dates to do an action, like "soon", "eventually", "this/next week"... could you embed this feature?
    5) I don't understand some features really, so it would be nice if you improved the instructions to make them "detailed" instead of "short instructions"!
    5) As I am German native speaker, I could offer you to translate the app into German... if you give me some further information. Would you like that? :)
    6) Pleease keep updating the application! ;)

    Greetings from southern Germany

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    1. Hi, thanks for writing and for trying out the app. We agree on almost all your points, so probably don't need to reply to each of them. We'll work in that direction. And thanks for translation proposal, we'll definitely use it when we finish main functions ;).

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  14. great app. but... will be there an web app? or maybe someone know an app which is android and web for planning? it is crucial to work on both.

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  15. Hi, thanks for your feedback. We'll reconsider the WeekPlan in order to make it more user friendly and more todo-style.

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  16. So far the best one out of tonnes of craps! Since the issues are all discussed above I have nothing else to say :-)
    Nonethless, thanks to the developers who came up with this great app.
    Godspeed.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks a lot, Saif! We really hope it does help you and others.

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  17. I LOVE this app as well, and I have it on my android phone - is there ANY possible way I can get this on my (ASUS) PC (windows 8.1) and my Kindle Fire?
    Thank you VERY much!

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    1. Teri,
      Not sure about the windows phone - too much work to do at the moment, when we haven't actually finished the android version. So, it's definitely not highest priority - only after web version is launched. Regarding the Kindle Fire - I think it's possible, since it runs on Android. Just need to check that. This too a little later. Thank you for using the app :)

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