How to remember things you need to, and forget the things you don’t

One program

"There is only one program and it is still being written.“

Don Box, Doug Purdy, Tech-Ed 2004

Problem

You need a butlerBUT

Butler’s are hard to come byAND

You don’t have enough money for a butler

Why you need a butler

Information overloadToo much to remember

Too many repetitive jobs requiring process managementBet you love filling in your timesheet at the

end of the monthOr filing your tax after you forgot all about it

Getting organized is difficultEven the gurus find it hard

Examples

Check your car lights work properlyAt least once a monthForget, and you might get fined

You just bought IKEA furnitureDon’t forget to tighten the furniture screws

once every 6 monthsForget, and you’ll remember when the leg of

your chair starts wobbling

Examples

Internet billsForget to check for them, you get a fine

Going abroad?What do you need to do before you go?

Information overloadA blog post had some great ideasBut you’ll forget them allBecause you can’t remember everythingAnd so important things are forgotten

Examples

Remembering to back up your computerOne day you’ll remember!If you schedule tasks with outlook, you’ll

have multiple tasks of the same thing

Uploading your photos to Flickr Going to dentist regularly Self-training

E.g. marathon, body-building

Why you don’t use tools

Which tools have you got?Outlook?

○ Task management is almost useless○ But at least it gets your attention when a mail

arrivesSome kind of calendar?

○ Planning in advance is pointless○ Keeping the plan up to date is hard○ You need to be more “agile”

Life-Management Requirements Life-management programs, like butlers,

need to beReliableEvent-driven

○ They need to react to real life eventsFlexibleIndependent

○ Or easy to deployAvailable all the time

○ Continuously runningPersonalizableAttention-grabbing

Reliability

My computer isn’t reliable enoughIt crashes, losing everythingIf it isn’t reliable, I can’t trust itIf I can’t trust it, I can’t forget about things

Event-driven

Reactive programsThe program waits for external event to

continue

Flexibility

It’s too hard to write programs, And even harder to change them

Deployment

Even if someone else writes programs for you, you have to install the buggersThat means you have to keep creating

space on your machine

Constancy

Some programs need to be running constantlyBut maybe only become active when

something happensLike a timer going off

Personalization

No software is defined to do exactly what YOU want it to

But what if small programs were already available and searchable?You would just need to find them and

activate themThey could be tailored for people like you

○ E,g. Tax requirements just for your area○ E.g. Housekeeping management schedule

Attention-grabbing

When you really need to do something, you need to know about itLike e-mail gets your attentionBut spam?

○ You need control, not someone else

GTDers

GTD very popular But biggest weakness is weekly review

Why do you need it?○ To keep track of projects

Surely this could be more automated!

Techy question:

What’s the point of creating a webservice to automate your business?Everyone will forget to use it anyway

○ You’ll have to invest too much in advertising your feature

○ Your customers only care about it if it helps them

○ They’ll forget how to use it

But Webservices could…

Be used if small client programs used them

But the programs have to be constantly running?Clients don’t run continuously

Introducing Lifeflows Small workflows

Designed using MS .Net 3.0 Event-driven

Extensible user API provides modules for building workflows for life-management Every module can be reused

Easy to create and change Can be shared, localized, copied

Use common services Tasks, calendar, resources, internet

Infrastructure taken care of Constantly running

Program instances are persisted when idle Easy to scale

Reliable Transactional Server-based

Example – Recurring task

This Lifeflow defines a simple event-based process• A task is created using a service•The process is persisted to a database•When the user sets the task to complete, the runtime retrieves the process and resumes it•The process calculates a new task date•A timer is set to wait for the new task date•The process is persisted again until the timer fires an event•When the timer expires, the runtime retrieves the process and resumes it•The process is repeated

Recurring task benefits The user only sees the current state of

tasksBased on the services used

The process runs on a serverSo more reliableCan use services like SMS and e-mail to get

attention The process runs continually The Lifeflow is easy to reuse

The actual program is stored in a database

Community Lifeflows

Users reuse Lifeflows from othersLike windows/Google/Yahoo gadgets, but

for processes

SearchableDefined as XML, so can be easily indexedCan be location specific

○ Mash-up with Google maps

Lifeflows create business Case study:

Your garage wants to remind you to service your car○ You’ll probably go to them if they make it easy for

youHow do they do it?

○ Sign up for e-mail?Probably ends up in your junk-mailExpensive to create a web-site to manage it

○ Customer still has to respond to messageUsually makes an appointment on the phonePuts the ball back in the customer’s court

Lifeflows enable business Lifeflow solution:

Business creates a simple Lifeflow○ Cheap, easy to deploy, just a file○ Infrastructure already there○ Integrates itself into user’s life-management

systemUser-adaptable

○ Can be changed, disabled, suspended○ Feels better for customer

Lifeflows make life easier The Lifeflow:

Asks you your mileage every month (after waiting for initial 6 months since last service)○ Waits for your answer○ If less than 15000km, waits another month○ After 11 months or 15000km it sends you a form

with list of possible appointmentsYou tick the one you want, and send it back

○ The appointment is confirmed○ The Lifeflow adds the appointment to your

calendar○ You have to do nothing!

No phone callsNo messing with tasks

Lifeflows integrate services Lots of services available on Web

Not easy to integrate them with your life

Lifeflows can integrate them Services can be swapped in and out

E.g. receive notification by e-mail or SMSCan use Yahoo calendar, iCal, Outlook, etc.

Lifeflows are easy to create Defined using simple text files (XML) Or Visio Or custom designer Easily copied and reused Uncomplicated

Don’t need images or UI design

Lifeflows also have internal business use Example: Event Management

Lots of things need to be arrangedLifeflows could be usedLifeflows could be used like a “BizTalk Lite”

product

Example: Housekeeping

Repetitive tasks Gaps between tasks defined Task completion defines when next task Impossible to plan and keep on top of Needs to be agile

Further example Trip planner

Reads your calendar, looking for new items3 days before an appointment, Lifeflow creates an e-

mail with information about○ the weather in the destination location, for the period of

the appointment○ Optional routes to take, including local traffic

information○ Currency rates

If the location of an appointment is not given, the Lifeflow sends you an e-mail asking you for it

Continually running○ You can just forget about it○ Just keep checking your mail, like you usually do

Yet another example Marathon training

Lifeflow sends you a form asking for best times for you to train

Then it creates a task for you to run 1 mile, and enters a provisional calendar appointment for it○ If you delete the appointment, the Lifeflow sends you a

message to reschedule When you complete the task, it waits 2 days (3 days at

weekends), then creates a new task to run 2 miles.○ Repeated, with tasks for 1, 3, 1, 5, 3, 6 miles, etc., until

you make it to a marathon○ If you forget to set the task to completed, the Lifeflow

sends you an e-mail, asking you about it Flexible planning You always know where you are up to, even if you miss a

run

More ideas Measure your kids’ growth Body-building training schedule Arrange trips to the dentist Car maintenance Keeping your resume current E-bay tracker Amazon price-watcher RSS to E-mail feed reader Flickr loader Project management Agile financial budgeting solutions