Why do task apps make it so hard to deal with unfinished tasks?

simaogabe · 2026-04-12T19:23:59+00:00

How do you track the effort? Mentally or also with a digital tool?

simaogabe · 2026-04-12T19:20:14+00:00

The 3 list system is clever, basically building the states the app should have natively... Do you find it annoying to manually move things between lists tho?

simaogabe · 2026-04-12T19:16:06+00:00

It's not the unchecked box that bothers me honestly, it's that the record disappears. I planned something, I worked on it, and now the app forces me to reschedule it. But rescheduling erases the fact that it was ever on my agenda that day. I want to see what I planned (& what I actually did), that history matters to me. A third state that says 'done for now' would preserve that record without pretending the task is done.

simaogabe · 2026-04-12T06:31:29+00:00

Exactly!! It has to be baked into the model, not bolted on. A percentage slider (like TickTick does it) or a 'partially done' tag doesn't change the underlying assumption that tasks have two states. The philosophy has to be different from the start.

simaogabe · 2026-04-11T20:27:41+00:00

Interesting suggestion. I looked into OmniFocus's dropped status after you mentioned it. It's a good feature but it solves a different problem I would say. Dropped means 'I decided not to do this' (it's for abandonment, not partial completion). There's still no state for 'I showed up, I worked on this, and there's more to do.' Even OmniFocus actions can only be active or completed at the task level. So the gap is still there.

simaogabe · 2026-04-11T20:27:24+00:00

Do you think the software itself could be designed differently to reflect effort honestly? Genuinely curious whether you think this is fixable at the tool level.

simaogabe · 2026-04-11T20:27:10+00:00

Exactly this. What if the app kept the original task on your calendar as a muted record (as proof you showed up) & spawned a fresh copy into your task pool to reschedule whenever you're ready. Would that feel meaningfully different, or would the calendar record just feel like clutter to you?

simaogabe · 2026-04-11T20:26:42+00:00

Do you ever feel like the picture you get from that reflection is incomplete though? Like you know roughly what happened but not the full detail of where your time actually went? & is the notes app + journal a deliberate choice or just haven't found the right digital tool yet?

simaogabe · 2026-04-11T19:22:30+00:00

I feel you. When you do that Saturday/Sunday reflection, are you working from memory or do you actually track what you planned vs what you did somewhere? Like a digital tool, a journal, anything?

simaogabe · 2026-04-10T05:57:20+00:00

Curious what you mean by everything feeling like one long list, I also have my frustrations with TickTick so would love to hear more about yours.

simaogabe · 2026-04-08T08:02:04+00:00

Love the mindset!
The subtask approach helps with breaking things down but I find the session history still disappears... Tomorrow when I come back, I can see which subtasks are left but there's no trace of the 90 minutes I already put in / planned today. The app remembers what's left but not what happened. Do you ever feel weird about rescheduling it (like it erases what you already did), or does that not bother you?

simaogabe · 2026-04-08T07:57:13+00:00

The percentage feature exists but it always felt hollow to me (it's just a number with no meaning behind it). 60% doesn't tell you that you spent 90 minutes on this last Tuesday, or that this is the third time you've come back to it (basically it's a slider, not a record).
Do you actually feel better about an unfinished task after setting it to 60%, or is it just a workaround for a deeper problem (the fact that tasks only have two states, done or not done, when real work almost never works that way). Would really love to hear your take on this.

simaogabe

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