For a few months now, I’ve been using a productivity app. It’s the first one that caught my attention in years. Why? It integrates all the common practices we read about in productivity books instead of just helping you with one or two of them.
The Sukha has a to-do list, time estimates for tasks, Pomodoro timers, focus music, and even AI coaches to encourage you. That’s all I need and then some, and it’s great. I’m using the app every day.
Lately, however, I’ve noticed the team going back and forth on decisions they’ve already made. They developed a desktop app, but now they want to move to a web app version. They arrange and rearrange the sidebars frequently. Most notably, however, the chat keeps appearing and disappearing in different views.
At first, you could still access the chat even while in a focus session. Then, you couldn’t, which, for a productivity app, makes perfect sense. Then, however, the chat-during-sessions came back — but only if you’re in “the Coffee Shop,” a brilliant feature that lets you see other people working if you also share your camera feed.
I know why this is happening: The team wants to make everyone happy. Surely, some people would like to message the people they see in the Coffee Shop. Maybe others just want to catch up on messages as they work. Some, like me, don’t care to have chat available during sessions at all. But for a productivity app designed fundamentally around focus and getting things done, the right choice is obvious: no chat while in focus sessions. It’s a choice the team should have to make only once.
I understand the struggle. You want to please your earliest supporters. But since you can never please everyone, you might as well stick with the strategic decisions you’ve made. Chances are those attracted your first users to begin with, and it’s okay to stick to your guns.
Most importantly, however, you simply can’t afford to make the same decisions over and over again — especially the obvious ones. You’ll run out of time, money, energy, or all three. Starting a business, recording an album, raising two kids — it’s all hard enough as it is. If you don’t draw at least a few lines in the sand, it’ll all get washed away before you’re done building your castle.
Make the obvious choices only once so you can take your time when you reach the more complex forks in the road. Don’t waste your energy on no-brainers — and don’t let others talk you into compromising your principles.