Show HN: I built a task manager that separates "do" and "due" dates

[zesfy]

Hi HN,

I’m the founder of Zesfy, a productivity app that I’ve been developing over the past few years. It’s designed to seamlessly integrate your tasks with your calendar, allowing you to transform your to-do lists into actionable events in just seconds. Here are some of its key features:

  - Task Progress: Automatically update your progress based on subtasks completed
  - Step: Create step-by-step breakdown of the subtask
  - Target: Organize tasks with due date
  - Session: Insert multiple tasks to calendar event
  - Space: Filter event from specific sets of calendars

I recently introduced new features that often missing from other productivity apps: the ability to set both “Do” and “Due” dates. With these features, you can effortlessly plan your tasks for the day while keeping track the upcoming due dates. What makes Zesfy unique is it separates tasks you’ve planned and those that are already scheduled in your calendar, giving you a more organized and flexible workflow.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zesfy-planner-calendar/id64799...

[thenaturalist]

I have ADHD and hence am generally quite interested in apps in this space.

Maybe it's just me but I found the app controls to be way too small, too many onboarding walk through steps and way too much information density in the Task screen.

Progress, Highlight, Due Date, different lists - it's a lot.

It seems to me you wanted to pack a punch, but it's so dense and so many steps involved that it falls into the productivity fallacy for me: It's increasing my executive disfunction and makes it harder and cumbersome to add tasks instead of reducing it.

One app that really works for me, does one thing and does it well is for example Due: https://apps.apple.com/de/app/due-erinnerungen-timer/id39001...

Not affiliated in any way with the app or it's creator.

When it comes to apps like these, less is more for me.

[bbminner]

For years I have been fiddling with the idea of a personal task management system that synchronized status, due dates, prioritization, planning, projects, etc across platforms, and came to a conclusion that nothing beats a flat text file (with own notation for all the above) synchronized well across devices via something reliable yet lightweight like google keep, that I "scan, update, reorder" at least once a day.

One huge insight was a notation to keep track of blocked tasks (usually by other people) and what/whom to "poll" periodically to check the status.

[codersfocus]

It's not so much a task database that people need. People need a way to structure their day. I find the calendar approach a lot of these apps use to be too cumbersome. I want structure, but something looser.

I'm working on my solution to this, that I call a "process manager." You have prompts that are composed of the prompt text, a recurrence pattern, and some prefill or "carry over" state. Essentially, a human version of a Turing machine.

Each day has a list, of the prompts that are due to show up that day. You can print it from your phone, and keep the paper folded and always with you.

Processes > projects. Our life is naturally process based. If you use food as an example, it's not enough to go grocery shopping once or make a meal once. Instead, "staying fed" is a never ending process. You can subordinate those tasks to that process, though.

So processes like that need to be managed, and currently there aren't any tools for that I know of.

I launched it on Testflight yesterday if anyone wants to give a spin: https://testflight.apple.com/join/2VNkUqy9

I am planing on adding more powerful features, like the ability to script the prompt instead of having it be static text.

[hanniabu]

Just use a text file where you drop all your todo items. At the end of every week bring to the top everything you plan to do next week. At the end of each day bring to the top everything you plan to do tomorrow.

[evntdrvn]

I have ADHD as well, and Due has been an absolute lifesaver and core of my life management for years now.

[w10-1]

The App Store flow is about abstract features so to me it doesn’t speak to value.

Eg it’s easy to know when something’s due, but really hard to know when to work on what —- what to do when. Saying “schedule easily” sort of buries the lede.

I wonder if a leading panel talking about the frustrating churn of planning ( implicitly trading the urgent against the important) would activate more people and also provide the right keywords for finding the app via search

[hxii]

I’m confused why you have both Zesfy (https://apps.apple.com/il/app/zesfy-planner-calendar/id64799...) and Sepnia (https://apps.apple.com/il/app/sepnia-calendar-tasks/id151493...).

They look very similar.

[zesfy]

Sepnia was my earlier app, and Zesfy is designed to replace it. I’ve kept Sepnia available for now to give users time to migrate to Zesfy before I take it down. I hope that clears up the confusion.

[dirkc]

Nice, it looks good and polished!

I liked the on-boarding. I don't like the first screen being a pitch for a subscription, but I get that you probably need to sell hard to get subscriptions.

I've recently launched a small app on the app store and it's no where near as polished! How long have you been working on it?

[zesfy]

Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad that you like the onboarding.

I get your point about the subscription screen. It's something that I've been experimenting for a while. I found many users activate the subscription during the onboarding, that's why I keep it.

I've been working on this app for almost 5 years at this point. Also, congrats for the app. Feel free to share the link, I'd love to check it out.

[TimTheTinker]

I'm always interested in potentially helpful systems for organizing my tasks...

But I'm not interested in another rent payment, full stop.

[wwalexander]

Very important distinction! Apple recently added an “Early Reminder” feature that allows similar functionality which I am very grateful for.

[mlangenberg]

And since Sonoma and iOS 18, Calendar and Reminders are finally integrated, so it’s easy to see upcoming reminders.

[gcr]

For folks using Things (by culturedcode) or org-mode, these offer something similar!

- Org-mode allows you to annotate tasks with DEADLINE: and SCHEDULED:, they will show up twice on your agenda. The deadline will have a countdown date.

- Things tasks don't appear until they are scheduled (⌘S), but you can additionally specify a deadline (⌘⇧D), and they will appear with an "X days til due" label.

[pivo]

I can't install it because I have an older (2020) Intel mac and it requires an M1 or later chip. Is that an accident or is there a real dependency on Apple CPUs?

[ceejayoz]

Yes. iOS apps can run natively on Apple Silicon Macs, but not on Intel.

[freetinker]

I will give any “Data Not Collected” app a fair chance. The design/UI look suite polished from the screenshots. Look forward to trying it out!

[zesfy]

Thanks for giving it a try. I'd love to hear your experience, feel free to let me know.

[content_content]

How can I show my Google calendars on here? Also, any plans for a desktop app? I hate interacting with calendars on my phone :(

[zesfy]

Zesfy syncs with your iOS calendar, so if you’ve already added your Google account to your iPhone’s calendar, all your Google events will show up in the app. Just make sure to turn on "Show iOS Calendars" on the app settings and you're good to go.

I'm planning to add supports for iPad and Mac in the future, probably PWA too if there is enough demand for it.

[dogmayor]

Looks interesting. Always looking at apps in this space, but I've found a good rhythm using 2do [https://www.2doapp.com/]. It allows you to set a "due" date, a "start" date, or a duration for a task. I also use the "snooze" feature a ton because it allows me to repeat a notification in 5 minutes, 1 hour, 1 day, etc if I cannot complete it at the originally set time.

I also use Things as others have mentioned but for more ad hoc tasks and reminders. 2do is great for my daily routine tasks and others that are recurring.

[Brajeshwar]

Personal Opinion—This is not for me as I follow a different pattern after learning from many others. However, here is my feedback from your landing page and the app screenshots.

I believe you should try to have case studies or some sort of Customer Archetype/Profile on the landing page.

Who is this App for?

The interface (from the screenshots) does look clean, but in my experience, apps/software that help people “get things done” are better off with more contrast colors, prominent design differences between modules, etc. The low-contrast Pantone-blushed neomorphic-ish design becomes a slippery, harder target to hit when used in tools that should do their job and get out of the way.

[rubymamis]

What am I looking in a to-do app?

- GTD, so I can keep track of Projects' tasks, and what I can work on next.

- Index

- Goals with due dates

  - Projects with due dates

   - Hierarchical Tasks with due dates

 - Today with Time Blocking

- Timeline to visualize progress

The Today's time blocking and timeline visualization are critical, imo.

But I couldn't find an app that integrate all of that. I made a mockup of something I might build in the future: https://i.imgur.com/h0zDdOy.png

[zie]

For todos anymore, I just create issues in my VCS UX of choice(self-hosted Forgejo for me), but Github, Gitlab, Gitea, etc all do the same sorts of things. I think they do basically everything on the above list, with the exception of calendar exporting. Though I'm sure one could write that fairly easily if they wanted.

I just keep a private repo called 'mylife' and everything goes in it, my private notes/journals/etc are just text file git commits in the same repo.

That said, if I was looking for a new system, outside of my control, I'd def. check this out.

[zesfy]

Thanks. It’s interesting to see how you leverage tools you already use. I’m curious about how you review your tasks for the day. Do you go through your text files one by one and pick out the most important tasks to focus on?

I developed Zesfy because I needed a mobile app to manage all my work, but I couldn’t find one that met my needs. What the review process look like if you're on mobile? Are you using a specific app?

[layer8]

Is “do date” the same as what is commonly called a “start date”? The latter is the most useful date IMO, in conjunction with being able to hide all tasks whose start date hasn’t been reached yet.

[mch82]

Excited to try this out. Will the app edit my iOS calendar, or is it isolated off?

I love that you’re treating tasks as calendar events. Tasks take time, so that’s how it should be.

[mstudio]

Looks great! Cool idea and a very clean interface. One note on the website: the "Calendar / Todo / Project" nav buttons throw 404 errors when clicked.

[zesfy]

Thanks for the kind words and for pointing that out. I'll get that fixed right away.

[koliber]

I’m wondering if there are any apps that combine the functionality of a todo list and a calendar with the concept of a daily agenda. I use Notion to do this but it requires manual work.

Each morning I create a daily agenda. I pull in my calendar entries. I also pull things I plan on doing from my todo list. I generally work off of my daily agenda.

When the day is over I put everything with doing back to the todo list.

[bloopernova]

It's going to be work to get it set up, but Emacs + org-mode will do those things for you. Example:

  ** PROG [#C] Meeting with Bob and Alice
  SCHEDULED: <2024-10-23 Wed 18:00-18:30>

That's a TODO item in the PROG state (TODO->PROG->DONE, I like 4-letter words to keep the columns aligned) with priority C, and the meeting is scheduled from 1800 to 1830.

Clicking on the date or calling `org-agenda-list` which in my instance is bound to `C-c a a` will show something like this:

  Tuesday    22 October 2024
  Wednesday  23 October 2024
                8:00 ┄┄┄┄┄ ┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄
                10:00 ┄┄┄┄┄ ┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄
                12:00 ┄┄┄┄┄ ┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄
                14:00 ┄┄┄┄┄ ┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄
                16:00 ┄┄┄┄┄ ┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄
                17:13 ┄┄┄┄┄ ◀── now ─────────────────────────────────────────────────
    2024-10-21: 18:00-18:30 Scheduled:  PROG [#C] WAF Updates
                18:00 ┄┄┄┄┄ ┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄
                20:00 ┄┄┄┄┄ ┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄
    2024-10-21: TODO [#D] Issues from deployment
  Thursday   24 October 2024

Unfortunately (or fortunately?) this doesn't sync my work office365 calendar. I can sync Jira tickets though :)

[FelipeCortez]

Notion supports this without too much manual work. Create a database, have two separate views, one a Board view and the other a Calendar view. To make a todo show up on the calendar, you can either set the date property manually or create a Button property defined to "Button is clicked → Edit `This page` → `Date`: `Date Triggered`. To make it even better, create a View of that database right next to itself, and you can keep both the Board and the Calendar view open simultaneously. Dragging from the Board to the Calendar works to set the dates for that entry/todo/page. I've been using this workflow since January and very happy with it.

[bbkane]

I do something similar, and I've come to appreciate the manual work. It lets me take a moment and reflect on what's important before I copy it over to/from the endless list.

[dotancohen]

  > I’m wondering if there are any apps that combine the functionality of a todo list and a calendar with the concept of a daily agenda.

Org mode (emacs)

[xn]

I use remind[1] with wyrd. I have a wyrd template to create reminders that will keep moving to the next (week)day, e.g.

REM Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri SCANFROM [float(2024,10,21)] AT 08:45 MSG %"Complete that thing%"%

where float is: FSET float(y,m,d) trigger(MAX(realtoday(), date(y,m,d)))

When I finish it, I delete it, or replace the floating date with the actual date if I want to keep track of when I completed it.

https://dianne.skoll.ca/projects/remind/

[venatiodecorus]

Todoist handles this pretty well now with their new calendar view and updated Google Calendar integration. I believe it also handles other calendar services.

[trinix912]

I remember using Lotus Organizer for this until I switched over to macOS a few years ago. I still haven't found a good alternative that combines it all in one place and is as lightweight. It had all those goodies like automatically moving undone ToDo's to the next day, a lot of options for reminders/due dates, schedule conflict checker etc.

Notion is great, but I too find the extra work distracting and unnecessary.

[Scottn1]

Check out Twos App (https://www.twosapp.com/). The interface makes it pretty easy to move tasks around, has integrated Calendar and can keep notes/journal as well.

Not affiliated, just been trying it out for a month now. Developer has been very responsive as well.

[Terretta]

Sunsama is the best at this:

https://www.sunsama.com/blog/time-blocking

More importantly, it offers a guided daily ritual to help through it gently, and make it a habit. This is shown in the second half of the blog post.

[rlcintra]

I highly recommend you checking Amazing Marvin. I was looking for the same thing and found this app a few months ago (I am not affiliated to them in any way).

https://amazingmarvin.com/

[swah]

Around 8... maybe ask on /r/productivity! You just reminded me I'm paying for Skedpal but not using it..

[FredPret]

If you’re an Apple person, consider Things. It’s a classic.

[proee]

NotePlan is my favorite comparable app. It has super nice apps for Mac desktop and iOS. It also syncs your data to your iCloud account in text files so very good for privacy in that you are not storing you data on their servers.

[woodglyst]

I was looking for something like Noteplan as well. The subscription model and the price was a deterrent to me and I went with Agenda [0]

[0] https://agenda.com/

[thenaturalist]

It's absolute bonkers to me that anyone would pay 8-10 USD per month in this day and age for an app like this.

Not saying all SaaS = bad, but for the functionality it provides, there are boatloads of cheaper options out there.

Value is relative, so maybe I'm also just too poor.

[mulderc]

Interesting, might recommend this to some others that use a calendar in this way but feel like Omnifocus can already essentially do this with forecast view.