from Hacker News

Get things done by procrastinating

by bjenik on 8/16/13, 12:53 PM with 41 comments

• by codegeek on 8/16/13, 1:35 PM

  Interesting idea. Btw, the default placeholders for Contact name and email address made me realize immediately that this site is using foundation for css (even without looking at the source) :). I have been playing with the same.

  Your landing page though is a little confusing. Ok so we can do more by procrastinating and then immediately you have the pricing table. I have no clue what it means. Yes you have a "how it works" section below but the pricing table needs to be somewhere else in my opinion.

  "When people have a big task to do they usually tend to start working on lots of other smaller things."

  Not sure if this can be generalized. When I procrastinate, i don't even do the small tasks. Heck, I will keep looking at that little light bulb that needs to be changed but I won't.

• by mcescalante on 8/16/13, 2:37 PM

  After staring at the page for about 5 minutes, I still have no idea what I would possibly be paying for, nor what would happen to my deposit if I didn't "finish" it on time.

• by bjenik on 8/16/13, 12:53 PM

  Background story:

  I'm currently working on a ToDo-App for the iPhone. The problem is, I'm not really working on it. Instead, I created all social media accounts I could potentially need for the app (if I hopefully finish it sometime). In addition to this, I rebuilt my personal website, redid my résumé and a lot of other stuff (like this side project). In fact I was quite productive - but not on the task I should do.

  To sum it up: Instead of working on a big task I got a lot of smaller ones done. So to get something done you obviously just need something bigger to procrastinate on. That's what this project is about.

  Now I'm really interested in your opinions - do you think this could work?

  (PS: English is not my first language - if there are any mistakes on the website please tell me)

• by cliveowen on 8/16/13, 1:32 PM

  "When people have a big task to do they usually tend to start working on lots of other smaller things."

  I usually don't work on anything, even if the big task is actually small. If you have be a procrastinator you might as well go all the way.

• by anonymoushn on 8/16/13, 3:31 PM

  I'm not sure what I would be paying for if I were to pay you.

• by dictum on 8/16/13, 4:25 PM

  The idea is interesting, but I want to understand something: how do you get sure that your customer has finished the task? Do you contact the person, requesting proof that the work is done?

  Handling big deposits that you'll have to refund later may bite you with transaction fees and taxes. IANAL/IANAA, but you should look into the laws of your country.

  Many people (this depends on what country they live, etc.) are used to using credit cards and not bank accounts on the web, so dealing with deposits may not interest them. Your audience may be different.

  As essentially a to-do app without a task list, your customers will primarily be consumers, who may not be used to making $500 deposits.

  Don't take my word as gospel, but while it's a good idea to have higher prices, especially for professional and enterprise customers, I'm not sure your example task for the Small plan, "getting your house cleaned", fits in with the $100 deposit. Of course the real "price" is $9.99 and the $100 deposit is just a way of making the user commit to it, but when I read it, it immediately stuck in my mind as paying someone else $100 for me to clean my own house.

• by loki540 on 8/16/13, 5:44 PM

  I think this is a really cool concept, but it seems to be a mish-mash of two ideas: 1) incentivize users to do a bunch of other tasks by identifying an even more daunting one. 2) help users tackle the biggest thing on their list by adding extra motivation (a time-sensitive security deposit). Personally, I like the latter more - I've tried similar things by adding pointification to my todo list, assigning notably more points to tasks that are the most important, but I think adding actual $$$ and a deadline would be even more motivating. I think the product here needs a bit more clarification, but it's a neat idea! I'd also think it's a good idea to drop the actual price of the tasks, but keep the deposits large - I doubt someone would pay $50 for motivation on a huge task, but they might pay $5 and risk $500.

• by joshuak on 8/16/13, 5:31 PM

  Awesome, but too many words.

  Deposit x dollars, for x days if you don't finish your task on time you don't get your money back.

  I don't even think you need to charge for it, since some people won't collect. Some people could like about finishing their task, but so what that's there problem.

• by Gravityloss on 8/16/13, 7:13 PM

  Oh come on, surely this is just a play on all the wacky web apps people do. (I don't oppose those.)

• by beobab on 8/16/13, 1:22 PM

  I certainly have experienced the situation that you are describing, where I managed to do tons of D.I.Y. jobs around the house when I really didn't want to call the insurance people because I was sure I'd missed the deadline, but...

  I'm not sure I understand why you are requiring a deposit. Is it just to ramp up the "must do this"-ness of the task?

  Scenario 1: Your customer wants a huge task so they can avoid it and do lots of other little tasks. - Effective cost: $550 for big task.

  Scenario 2: Your customer wants to get good at actually doing tasks. - Effective cost $50 for big task.

  Your deposit rewards actually getting tasks done. Is that what you're trying to achieve?

• by score on 8/16/13, 2:52 PM

  I see where your getting at. It's a bit like vow of now's "zen mind guaranteed or your money isn't refunded": http://vowofnow.com

• by goshx on 8/16/13, 7:39 PM

  I'd pay for something that could really make me stop procrastinating. Unfortunately, I still haven't found anything that works. Your idea won't work with me either. Along the years I've been mastering my skills on "paying for things I will never use", like a gym, for instance. My problem with procrastination is that when I have a productive day, finishing big and hard tasks, I feel like I awarded myself with procrastination credits so I become useless for another extended period of time.

• by cgulovsen on 8/16/13, 3:15 PM

  At first I was thought it was similar to TaskRabbit where I could just outsource all the work I don't want for a monthly subscription which I would be okay with (not saying I would use it but it would help some people). Once I realized they actually want me to do my own work I was totally turned off...

• by volaski on 8/16/13, 3:50 PM

  How does this go up on HN front page when no one understands what the hell this thing does

• by pla3rhat3r on 8/16/13, 5:33 PM

  Not sure anyone would buy into this since we all pretty much get PAID to procrastinate and this is asking us to PAY to procrastinate. Maybe if you gave away your product this would help increase signups? Wait, what!?!

• by ahallock on 8/16/13, 2:14 PM

  The copy is confusing. I still don't understand what the product does.

• by bjenik on 8/16/13, 4:04 PM

  I updated the "How does this work?" question on the page

  I hope it is more understandable now. If not just ask.

• by anactofgod on 8/16/13, 7:13 PM

  I'll check into this later.

• by dpanah on 8/16/13, 7:27 PM

  This is a full proof idea. We should all do it...tomorrow.

• by dpanah on 8/16/13, 8:04 PM

  Pro cras tin at ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

• by dpanah on 8/16/13, 8:08 PM

  Please pay here; dot dot dot: WH.gov dot dot com. ;)

• by dpanah on 8/16/13, 8:02 PM

  It's all full proof I tell ya.

• by dpanah on 8/16/13, 8:00 PM

  Full proof I tell ya.

• by dpanah on 8/16/13, 8:03 PM

  It's full proof brothers and sisters and bothers and soysters.

• by dpanah on 8/16/13, 7:59 PM

  Please buy now.

• by dpanah on 8/16/13, 8:00 PM

  Damn full proof. Why don't you believe it?