Ask HN: What Do You Think?

2 pointsdevchris105y ago1 comments

The problem (IMHO) around notes, scheduling, and productivity apps is that they have only subset of features that a given user needs. User workflows are very unique and diverse. Some may prefer calendar integration, some may not. Others may prefer inline image support while some only require text. The examples are endless. It seems inevitable that a note/scheduling/productivity app can only bloat user experience while being in the infinite race to onboard features their users/competitors demand.

For the past few months, I have been designing an ecosystem of micro-apps that users can pick from to stitch together a workflow experience tailored to their needs. Users would obviously only pay for the apps they use. The idea is to eventually let developers contribute apps as long as they fit the goal of interoperability.

Some example micro-apps are browser extensions, spaced-repetition integration, email-able files, local only storage, encrypted cloud storage, calendar integration, vim support, reading queue, etc. Instead of dealing with the walled gardens of Notion, Evernote, Gsuite (despite their plugin support), do you think people will care for such an ecosystem?

Thanks for reading and any discussions/feedback will be much appreciated.

1 comments

asgekar5y ago

Hi.

I am a possible user for you. I have a startup and I expect very diverse bunch of people to work with me.

As a company we would like to get critical and important information to flow between various stake holders. The stake holders (developers, managers and others) can choose their tools and workflows to deal with the info flow. Whatever suits them...

For example: project plan, timelines, notes/ references, emails/messages, etc. As far as users can access these without fail, and interact to modify them as and when required, I would welcome the freedom for stakeholders to deal with the info the way s/he wants.

I see potential trouble with

1. inter-operability of various tools: notes taken in Notion, vs. Evernote, for example.

2. speed of work: Can web apps help? How do we merge these things for mobiles?

3. Safety of data: we cannot leak information.

Perhaps, to start with, you may want to give a limited freedom for users' workflows. With time more elements can be added.

Cheers!

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