When Maryland-born Shaan Singh met Netherlander Erik van der Plaas in 2015, the boys hit it off almost instantly. The high-school goers began chatting at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), bonding over a universal problem: procrastination. “We would use to-do list apps to help organise our work. But those wouldn’t help us get our work done,” Singh explains.
Inversely, the problem motivated them to work on something that would function as a ‘procrastination-killer.’ And so they created Time, an app that allowed you to add tasks to a list, and start and stop them during their completion. With a timer counting down, the pressure motivates you to get the job done.
Cause and effect
They came up with the idea while researching psychology, and stumbled upon the Zeigarnik effect. “The effect says that uncompleted tasks stick in your head more than completed ones do — that’s why cliffhangers are so effective,” Singh says. “We ran with that idea for three years and somehow, between classes, college applications, and extracurriculars, we managed to launch an app,” he laughs.
The app went live for Apple users in 2015 and reactions were largely positive. But as they added features, customers started having issues. While debugging and rewiring, Singh and der Plaas realised one thing: it was time for an upgrade.
“Time was bloated with features, which were slowing it down drastically. So we reassessed and asked ourselves: ‘What here is truly relevant? How do we make this a better experience for our market?’ They decided to roll back, removing unwanted features while adding more effective ones. Singh attributes the pair’s dedication to a certain product development mentality that, he says, underlies everything they’ve done. He says “To be honest, this started as a hobby. Once we realised there was business potential, our focus has remained on the product. Although, of course, we’re aware of the other amazing apps in the market as well.”
Time to change
Stripping the app down to the bare minimum to create a cleaner picture that Singh hopes will “promote productivity subconsciously,” the duo launched Time 2 in November 2017.
Since then, he relies on the feedback of his peers at Harvard University as well as a constant overseas collaboration with der Plaas to continue to improve it for their primary market: students.
Offered for free on the Apple Store, Singh says they hope to monetise with premium downloadable features while still providing the basic version, complete with core features, free of cost. “It sort of continues where the Calendar app leaves off. While that helps you stay organised, Time 2 helps you stay focussed and accountable for the work you have to do.”
With plans to launch the app both via website and Android in the near future, it’s evident that developing it has helped Singh beat his own procrastination. “It’s really just a vicious cycle. But if you’re ready to take that first step in breaking it, then this app is exactly what you need.”
weekend@thehindu.co.in