Simple tools (or: it's hard to find wheels)

There are so many things to do and so many tools to keep track of what needs to be done. When I'm working with developers, kanban boards, markdown files or issues in a git repo can already do the heavy lifting. It's good to have one central place you can look at and immediately see: Here's what still needs some work.

Other teams might not write code, understand how markdown works or want to set up some complicated tool for task management. Especially in craft, there's little room for tools that deeply change how a business works.

For the past few years, I've been part of such a team. They do use software and work with files, however, their workflows aren't deeply rooted in purpose-designed software. They rely on email and phone calls for actually coordinating what's going on.

A few years ago, they asked me for a simple shared to-do list. Nothing fancy, no hoops to jump through, no extra features that end up being unused.

The go-to solutions for most people probably are Google Keep, Apple Notes, Evernote, and so on. However, I think that you can't expect anyone to create a Google account just for a simple to-do list. Same goes for other services, there's just too much friction.

Most services reinvent the wheel and thewheel itself becomes increasingly hard to find. Especially if you take into account factors like data privacy, efficiency, ability to host locally, ...

They just needed a simple to-do list.

So I just set up the simplest locally hosted web service with a to-do list, simple task assignment and comments. There have been no complaints and they've been using it daily. The only thing I implemented after the initial version was a filter function.

I think that's beautiful. It shows that all the complexity of the real world doesn't necessarily need to be modeled digitally. It can stay where the actual work happens. The digital tools just aids in putting the notion of a task in a central place that everyone can access. It minimizes the time needed to be spent with the tool so you can get straight back to work.

The same thing also applies to me. I try to model problems of the real world digitally and it becomes really difficult to adhere to a schema you picked in the beginning. Especially once the task at hand changes a bit and doesn't fit the original schema anymore. The software just needs to stay out of the way: I need fewer features that dictate a specific kind of workflow.

With all of that in mind and taking into account my professional needs (I'll start work as a self-employed software developer in a few months), I decided to set up a platform that makes working with todos, deadlines, customers, invoices much easier. A simple tool for every problem without reinventing the wheel.

I'll write about the progress here so check back if you're curious to know what it'll look like. Hopefully, you'll be able to try it out soon!

~Marv