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53 Comments

Show IH: I created a tool to help me reduce my anxiety as an Indie Hacker

Hey guys,

I'm a productivity nerd, I tried soooo many things to help me be more productive, but I never really stuck with one during the last 15 years.

The only method that really helped me is the Pomodoro technique, even though I thought it was too rigid.

A year ago, I decided to create a task manager based on my own needs.

  • it helps you go through your day and motivates you
  • it helps you keep track of time without blocking you
  • With a nice and clean UI/UX

It's now live, and I'm super curious about your feedback

It's 100% free to use - without signup

https://focusplus.io

posted to Icon for group Landing Page Feedback
Landing Page Feedback
on March 30, 2023
  1. 4

    Nice! Really like the UI, definitely feels like something fresh and new. I love a minimalistic product that just focuses on doing one thing and going it really well.

    I've bookmarked this to try out at work tomorrow ;)

    In terms of some feedback:

    • I think the onboarding could be a bit smoother. I found myself a bit lost on what was really going on when I first went through the app. Maybe even an explanation of the Pomodoro technique
    • Maybe a bit less bouncing in the animation transitions, I like the effect but feels a bit too much.
    • Dark mode please :D
    • Better un-happy path flows: clicking the play button with no items in the backlog doesn't do anything. Should be communicated to the user.
    1. 1

      Thanks for the valuable feedback!

      • What step of the onboarding was confusing exactly?
      • I agree about the bounce, we'll reduce it a bit
      • Not sure about dark mode - but the colors change during the day!
      • I'll fix the button today or tomorrow!
  2. 2

    I tried FocusPlus yesterday and loved it! It is so simple, but it instantly put me into a more productive frame of mind. It guided me to make a priority list and time estimates, instead of just grabbing the first task on my to-do list. It helped me work on one thing at a time and avoid distractions. Another great product from Xavier!

    1. 1

      Thanks for your support, Jesse!

  3. 2

    Hey Xavier!

    I'm not quite the right audience -- I don't typically use productivity apps. But I do love the experience you've got here! Feels very smooth and in sync with the Pomodoro philosophy.

    There were a few little things:

    • I didn't quite understand the sample tasks when I started (they said "drag a task" and that was confusing because in focus mode I couldn't drag of course)
    • When I created a task, the time selection was really appropriate -- if I could hit ENTER while the browser focus was on those buttons it would have really left a good impression for productivity
    • This may because I'm not the target, but it seemed like the pausing/unpausing loses how much time I've spent on a task? That makes me not want to hit pause

    Great job!!

    1. 1

      I agree with the drag & drop thing, we thought it would be a nice UX but it's not that smooth… We def. need to add more keyboards shortcuts as well

  4. 2

    I love it, super simple but still has everything what I need!

    1. 1

      Oh thanks !

      How can we make it better?

  5. 2

    Nice tool !! Love it to be focus

    1. 1

      Thanks Victor, I appreciate the support 😊

  6. 1

    It looks good. Demo on home page shows it well. I think going after the "I need help focusing on one thing" niche is a good play.

    I haven't tried it out myself, but based on the demo vid, I suggest you tone down the amount of motion (bounce? spring?) in the animations. If I go for this product looking for focus, I feel like so much movement might through me off.

    As always, there is always room for one more "TODO" app 🙂.

    All the best with this Xavier.

    1. 1

      You should try it for real!

      Thanks for the feedback about the animations, you're not the first one saying this. We'll smooth them a bit!

  7. 1

    Awesome, helpful and easy to use

  8. 1

    I watched your website video, the introduction is very detailed, it feels good to do this, but I still don’t understand how to be stress-free

  9. 1

    I love the UI design. Cool stuff!
    It's quite similar to a project I wanted to build: https://focusd.app
    Maybe I'll get back to it sometime later ;-)

  10. 1

    Some fonts are a little hard to read—other than that a really nice app.

    1. 1

      Oh really? Which part of text are hard to read? Well try some alternatives

  11. 1

    Looks super! animations are giving it a unique vibe. Thanks for sharing, I can see how it might help with focus.

    @maximedupre has been talking about setting up a minimum time (90 minutes is the suggested number) and you'd have to work that amount every day.

    A combination of that, with your implementation of Pomodoro could be super helpful!

  12. 1

    Wow, I just tried FocusPlus and I have to say it's amazing! The Pomodoro technique has always worked for me too, but this task manager takes it to a whole new level. The UI/UX is so clean and user-friendly, and it really helps keep me motivated throughout the day. Thanks for creating this, Xavier!

  13. 1

    Absolutely love the colors and most of the UI. Great work buddy! The only recommendation I have, is to add a "Features" section to outline a few top features with great graphics showing them.

  14. 1

    Very cool, will give this a try once we have more customers :)

    1. 1

      Absolutely love the colors and most of the UI. Great work buddy!

  15. 1

    Sleek UI, looks great!

  16. 1

    Pleasant! I truly like the UI, it certainly feels like something new and new. I love a moderate item that simply centers around doing a certain something and going it all around well. https://braintraincentersinc.com/

  17. 1

    Cool! I will try it!

  18. 1

    Nowadays, a good method to improve productivity is to start counting tasks and see which productive tasks bring good results. Also, see if your efforts are working or not.

    Suck kind of timer apps help us to measure our time with proper task.

    I am currently using the clockify its also a good website. But i like your idea and keep up your great work!

    Its awesome!

    1. 1

      I will, I appreciate the support James

  19. 1

    Congratulations for the release. I like the art direction idea, but honestly it feels odd using the app. As someone before me said - I was lost when I tried it for the first time. The flow for creating a task is tedious and unclear, I hardly understood what that page wanted from me to do.
    Keep shipping and try to simplify things!

  20. 1

    Smooth animations, love it!

    Definitively I'll try to use this app every day to sit up from my chair and check the hours that I use for my projects

    1. 1

      Thanks 🙏

      How can I make it even better?

      1. 1

        Web notifications, notify the user when the time’s up

  21. 1

    Just tried it out and really loved the overall ui/ux of the app. Everything feels so intuitive to use. Bookmarked this for now, and will try to add this in my routing in next couple of days.

  22. 1

    This sounds awesome! I'll definitely check it out.

    1. 1

      Thanks 🙏

      Keep me posted!

  23. 1

    Tool is good. I don't know how to include it in regular tasks, but I liked the idea.
    It's cool.

    1. 1

      What do you mean "include it in regular tasks?"

      Do you mean add recurring tasks?

  24. 1

    Salut Xavier,

    Honestly it looks good.

    Feedback wise, I guess it depends on what you want to do with it.

    If you want to turn it into a fully fledged business I'd really suggest building a belief system around this product (what I call a BLUNT belief).

    Yes, I'm a broken record on this subject I'm afraid (je radote!), but it really is the best way to grow - especially something like this.

    Look at companies like Get Things Done or Bullet journal - all of them have a unique belief system and methodology that people can implement without buying their product. This, counter-intuitively, makes it more likely they will actually buy the product (for reasons I explain on my website - www.thebluntmethod.com).

    What's more this approach will give you protection from copycat competitors.

    If your product becomes successful and popular, then others are going copy it - and its super easy to copy a product.

    An approach and belief system becomes a brand - and brands are hard to copy. People can easily copy Bullet journal's product for example (its products are a notebook, an online course and a book) but the brand can't be replicated. When it comes to beliefs and approaches, people want to learn from the creator - not a copycat.

    Hope that makes sense? There's more info about this approach on the aforementioned website.

    Any questions let me know
    Best

    Chris

    1. 1

      Hello, your site is showing an error about failing to establish a database connection and doesn’t load :(

      1. 1

        Hey, how bizzare. Looks good to me at the moment. Perhaps a temporary issue?

        1. 2

          Yes, it’s working fine now. Thanks!

    2. 1

      Thanks for the very thoughtful comment!

      I agree with you, and that's what we started to do (at a very small size), but I feel like now we just need to gather feedback and see if there is some adoption - if the current version can help people other than me and my co-founder.

      We already have a TON of ideas to make it better/unique but, one step at a time :)

      1. 1

        Avec plaisir :-)

        Need any help you know where I am :-)

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