This quarter, our study specifically focuses on attention management which we are defining as the ability to focus on a single task at hand. Whether we are doing homework, conducting research, or socializing, how can we track the quality and intentionality we’re giving to that task? Before brainstorming any solutions or interventions ourselves, we sought to understand what’s been done thus far: how do people try to measure attention management for themselves?
We started by searching for existing tools that aim to improve attention management. We noticed that attention management and time management were phrases often used interchangeably. Both aim to improve productivity and focus by reducing distractions, planning or tracking tasks. Bellow, we describe some of the most popular solutions.
Product Summary
1) Forest [Android, iOS, Chrome]
Product Description: Forest is an app (Android, iOS, Chrome) that motivates users to put down the phone screen and stay focused on the task at hand. The idea of Forest is very simple: Plant a seed when you start a task, then set a timer. If you stick to the task by not picking up your phone, your tree grows, but if you exit the app your tree dies.
Features:
- Gamification: to motivate users to stay focused on tasks.
- Statistics and insights: to tailor habits and track time.
- Multiple focus modes: to offer flexibility to users. Timer mode (set focus session or Pomodoro), Stopwatch Mode (start/stop at any time, more flexibility), Plant together (shared session with friends and family).
Price: $3.99 + in-app purchases
Users:
- people who are aware of the amount of time they spend on their phone and who want to change this habit / be more productive or present.
- Students
- Potential Interests: plants/sustainability/environmentalism, games and challenges, ownership
Problem it addresses:
- people spend way too much time on phones (especially in today’s society) and have trouble putting the phone down and focus on a task, whether it be work, spending time with friends, etc.
- Phones are distracting and it’s hard to not cave into notifications
Solution: Motivates people to put the phone down by gamifying the process and relying on people’s emotions (ex. Guilt/disappointment for killing a tree)
2) Noisli [iOS, Android, Web Chrome extension]
Product Description: A productivity site that provides high-quality sounds that users can mix and match to mask annoying noises and to create a suitable work environment that boosts productivity and focus.
Features:
- Background Sounds: 28 high quality background sounds that you can play individually or combine with each other at various volumes to create custom combinations
- Playlists: can also listen to the carefully curated playlists for various situations
- Favorites: to create your own combos for different needs and situations and save up to 10 Combo
- Timer: help users work in sessions with sound stopping when time is up
- Distraction-free Text Editor: write in a minimal and distraction-free environment, supports markdown
Price/Price Model:
Users: often distracted by noise when working, interests may include music and mixing, creativity/creative expression
Problem it addresses: Being able to focus on a task at hand relies on a number of factors, many of which are external or environment-dependent. Many sounds can be annoying or distracting, hindering people’s flow. Thus, creating the best work environment through the management of sound may be important
Solution: Improves focus and boosts productivity with customizable ambient noise. By helping users drown out annoying noises, the product creates a better environment to concentrate and enhance productivity.
3) The Productivity Planner [physical planner]
Product Description: A compact, lightweight, and undated planner optimized to enable focusing on your goals and refraining from procrastinating.
Features:
- 30 pages of helpful tips & how-to’s, including tips on creating a better TODO list, on deciding how to prioritize, and on the pomodoro technique
- Inspirational quotes scattered throughout the planner
- Weekly Planning: a task based weekly overview section for setting clear goals and pre-planning for the week
- Daily Planning: uses prioritization framework and focus time tracking to complete tasks and move closer to goals
- Weekly Review: section to help analyze what worked and what didn’t in a given week
Price/Price Model: $24.95 USD
Users: folks who like having a physical planner and/or using pen and paper, people who want to learn how to be productive, goal-oriented
Problem it addresses: focusing and being productive is a difficult task and TODO lists on phones or computers can be disrupted by endless distractions and notifications
Solution: The paper planner reduces technological distraction and improves user’s productivity by teaching them to ruthlessly prioritize tasks and work towards goals
4) Hocus Focus [Mac]
Product Description: A menu bar utility that automatically hides windows that have been inactive for a certain period of time, thus fostering a more clutter-free environment.
Features:
- Hands-free and simple to use: automatically hides window without users having to do much tracking and maintenance on their own
Price/Price Model: Free
Users: folks who use Mac device, quite tech-savvy and like to multi-task or have lots of tabs/windows open
Problem it addresses: having many tabs open can hinder productivity by being visually distracting. It can be hard to remain focused on tasks that matter
Solution: automatically hides windows that have been inactive to promote productive work and remove potential distractions
5) Freedom [Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome]
Product Description: A tool for staying focused by blocking out websites and notifications for certain durations of time across platforms
Features:
- Sync Across Devices: Blocks distracting sites (websites/apps) or even the internet across all devices at once
- Custom block lists: ability to create custom block lists to use
- Pre-made block lists: generalized, pre-made block lists to use without the effort of creating them yourself
- Locked mode: a special mode that prevents users from quitting during a block/focus session
- Advanced Scheduling: users can start sessions immediately or schedule future sessions that will begin automatically. Users can also create recurring sessions
Price/Price Model:
- Free 7-day-trial
- Monthly Plan ($8.99/month)
- Yearly Plan ($3.33/month)
- Forever: $159.99
- Options to licence for companies & schools
Users: own and use multiple devices and/or cross-platform, often distracted from websites and apps across devices
Problem it addresses: People nowadays own many devices at once and it is difficult to remain focused due to notifications and distractions across these devices.
Solution: block websites and apps cross-platform for certain durations and times to promote focused work and concentration.
6) RescueTime [Windows, macOS, Android]
Product Description: RescueTime is a time tracking software, which tracks all activities and generates weekly reports. It also provides recommendations of optimal productivity time windows based on user habits.
Features:
- Website blocker during “Focus time”
- Smart coaching: to keep users on track throughout the day
- Weekly reports / personal goal tracking: to allow users to reflect on their productivity and iterate their methods to progress towards their goals
Price/Price Model: Plans start at $6.50/month
Users: People who need to keep close track of daily tasks but may not often reflect and/or iterate on how they work towards a goal
Problem it addresses: Tracking your behaviours and distractors on your own and consciously is often difficult. Without recognizing what works/doesn’t work, it is hard to make progress towards a goal or to increase productivity.
Solution: RescueTime tracks all activities and generates reports to encourage users to recognize their behaviours and actively reflect on them to improve their productivity.
Shortcomings: No integration available with other time-tracking/billing systems, so it wouldn’t be so helpful for freelancers
Comparative matrix
All of the solutions listed above all aim to increase focus and productivity by structuring time and tasks. Their main difference is when the intervention is necessary. So we created a timeline and grouped the solutions above according to when these interventions are happening:
Applications such as Forest, Productivity Planner focus on planning tasks and time allocations before the task starts. However, they do anything while the task is happening. Productivity planner does offer space for reflection after the task, and similarly, Rescue Time offers reports and data visualization so users can see how they did during the day or the week. Rescue Time, Freedom, Noisili and Hocus Focus try to improve focus by removing distractions and noise while the task is happening. Only Rescue Time offers support before, during and after a task. However, as mentioned before, it requires a lot of energy and attention to set up preferences properly.
Additionally, we summarized some of our findings through our comparative matrix, which looks at ease of use and cost, which we believe are important factors for people looking for tools to help improve their attention management.
Comparative Matrix with Ease of Use on the x-axis and Cost on the y-axisWe found that solutions tended to cluster in two quadrants, namely the low ease of use (ie hard to use), high costs and high ease of use (easy to use), low cost. From this matrix, we see that half of the solutions we found are hard to use due to the work users need to put in to set up the products, education to use the products correctly, etc while also often asking users to pay a monthly or yearly subscription fee to use the service. We noticed that Hocus Focus is the best in this matrix but also realize that the scope of the product is small — it just removes unused windows — and only works on Mac. [Scope and Availability are also metrics we considered for the comparative matrix]
Thus, we aim to develop a solution that is easy to use, cheap, and available through a wide variety of platforms.
