Overview
Background
Discover
Define
Ideation
Delivery

PaceTodo

Make Better Plans with AI-powered Delay Prediction

End-to-end DevelopmentDesign StrategyMachine LearningAndroid Development

My Role

Product Lead & Developer

Team Member

Yi Zhang - UX Researcher

Duration

5 Months

Stage

Launched
(Android version.1)
‍

Overview

Problem

Current time management apps rarely help users to evaluate if a plan is attainable or not in advance, which means they may ask users to adhere to bad plans.

Design Stratgely

"Good Plan" means: Estimated Time = Actual Time Spent.
So, a better time management app should help users to observe and close the gap between estimated time and actual time spent for their plans.

Solution Overview

PaceTodo

A Timed To-do List that Helps You Make Better Plans with Real-time Delay Prediction

In PaceTodo, you create tasks with estimated time. Then, PaceTodo will help you track the actual time you spent on each task.

You may ask, how does the delay prediction works?

How Delay Prediction Works

Potential Delay =
k*(Estimated Time - Actual Time)

Based on your interaction data (task type, estimated time, actual time, number of breaks and sessions,  etc), PaceTodo will predict potential delays in current plans. Pacey, your smart AI assistant, will then provide real-time plan adjustment tips...

...and it is more than that!

Make Attainable Plans

Evaluate Daily Workload by Total Actual Time/Estimated  Time

PaceTodo's To-do list is organized by date. On each date, "total actual time / total estimated time" will be updated in real-time for you to understand the progress and workload.

Make Attainable Plans

Quick Reschedule Based on Workload

Just as flexible as traditional to-do list apps, but better: when you realize you just planned too much for certain days, you can reschedule to other days based on the estimated time already planned in these days.

Real-Time Planning Tips

Create Task with  Delay Prediction

When you are creating a new task, if past data shows you tend to spend more time than your estimation with this type of task, Pacey will kindly suggest you to save more time for this task.

Real-Time Planning Tips

Timer Mode as Progress Checker

As you use PaceTodo's timer mode to track actual time, Pacey will do 50% and 75% progress check and suggest new estimated time based on your current progress and personalized prediction model.

Organizing Tasks

Create Grouped Tasks and Milestones with Project Planner

For long-term projects, PaceTodo provides Project Planner for you to organize grouped tasks. It also allows you to set critical milestones in the far future.

Data Report

Understanding Expected and Actual Time Usage in last 14 Days

The data report records your time usage in the past 14 days. Compare the gap between estimated time and actual time in various categories of tasks, and prepare for better plans in the future!

PaceTodo

A Timed To-do List that Helps You Make Better Plans with Real-time Delay Prediction

In PaceTodo, you create tasks with estimated time. Then, PaceTodo will help you track the actual time you spent on each task.

You may ask, how does the delay prediction works?

How Delay Prediction Works

Potential Delay =
k*(Estimated Time - Actual Time)

Based on your interaction data (task type, estimated time, actual time, number of breaks and sessions,  etc), PaceTodo will predict potential delays in current plans. Pacey, your smart AI assistant, will then provide real-time plan adjustment tips...

...and it is more than that!

Make Attainable Plans

Evaluate Daily Workload by Total Actual Time/Estimated  Time

PaceTodo's To-do list is organized by date. On each date, "total actual time / total estimated time" will be updated in real-time for you to understand the progress and workload.

Make Attainable Plans

Quick Reschedule Based on Workload

Just as flexible as traditional to-do list apps, but better: when you realize you just planned too much for certain days, you can reschedule to other days based on the estimated time already planned in these days.

Real-Time Planning Tips

Create Task with  Delay Prediction

When you are creating a new task, if past data shows you tend to spend more time than your estimation with this type of task, Pacey will kindly suggest you to save more time for this task.

Real-Time Planning Tips

Timer Mode as Progress Checker

As you use PaceTodo's timer mode to track actual time, Pacey will do 50% and 75% progress check and suggest new estimated time based on your current progress and personalized prediction model.

Organizing Tasks

Create Grouped Tasks and Milestones with Project Planner

For long-term projects, PaceTodo provides Project Planner for you to organize grouped tasks. It also allows you to set critical milestones in the far future.

Data Report

Understanding Expected and Actual Time Usage in last 14 Days

The data report records your time usage in the past 14 days. Compare the gap between estimated time and actual time in various categories of tasks, and prepare for better plans in the future!

Background

Inspiration: A Crushed Friend

My friend from Penn, Alex(alias) burst into tears and told me that she failed two CS assignments and missed her midterm. Knowing how smart she was, I was shocked she failed to keep up with basic school work. Then, she showed me her google calendar, and told me how she failed time management repetitively.

Initial Observation: how the tools fail to help

I quickly realized that Alex's plans were too ambitious: she at least needed double the amount of time for things planned. However, google calendar does not question a bad plan. Bad plans cause delays, and when Alex experienced delays, she blamed herself instead of the unreasonable schedule. The blame made her become avoidant, and caused not only further delays but also more guilt and shame.

Discover

Research Methods

Online Survey

The Qualtrics survey contained 11 multiple choice questions with free response options. 52 responses were collected.  from graduate students in Penn Graduate School of Education.

Read Full Report

Competitive Analysis

8 apps were coded into 3 main categories: Timeline App, Focus Timer, and To-do List. Findings are listed in Research Highlight section.

Timeline App
‍Google Calendar, Structured

To-do List
‍Any.do, TickTick, Todo, Notion

Focus Timer
‍Focus Keeper, Focus Tomato

User Interview

I conducted user interviews with 3 survey participants who reported frequent delays and rated the apps as unhelpful.

 

Read User Journey

Research Highlight

Generally, the survey results confirmed with my intuition. Delay is common, and current apps are not useful enough in preventing delays. Why? People make bad plans, and most current apps help users tracks plans regardless of the plan quality. Moreover, I looked into what works and what doesn't work in current apps, and defined the user profile through the research.

1. Current Time Management Apps are simply not good enough.

Delay is Common! 90.4% participants experience delays, and 43.2% delays over half of the time. Moreover, app users and non-app users experience similar level of delay frequency, which means current apps rarely help users prevent delays.

2. The current apps help users lay out plans and track plans, but they don’t question bad plans.

I looked into the pro and cons in current apps, the competitive analysis is listed below:

Timeline App: Google Calendar, Structured

To-do List: Any.do, TickTick, Todo, Notion

Focus Timer : Focus Keeper, Focus Tomato

Timeline App

Pros: the timeline restrict overbooking to certain extent by showing how “time” is a  limited resource and exclusive to each task planned

Cons: very time consuming to reschedule

To-do List App

Pros: the least stressful & most flexible to use.

Cons: insensitive to time usage, which easily leads to overbooking

Focus Time App

Pros: the most helpful in task execution phase. People use it more as a habit tracker instead of a planner.

Cons: the most stressful to use.

These are all great, but if we look at what is NOT included in current solutions: none of the apps provide guidance for making reasonable plans! (and the users rarely realize they make bad plans when they are making one)

"If I make good plans, then sure the apps could help me track plans. But sometimes I make awful plans: I may underestimate the workload or overestimate my capacity. The apps don't help me evaluate my plans. I need to figure out 'I made a bad plan' by myself."

"I procrastinate. Mostly because I often underestimate the workload. The plan on the apps reflects my optimism, which means they don't tell me I need to take action earlier than I think I need to be."

3. If it is time consuming to make plan adjustments (like Google Calendar), people easily quit apps.

"Plan changes all the time, and if an app takes me longer than 5 seconds to reschedule stuff, I might just stop using the app."

With Timeline Apps such as Google Calender, it could be super time consuming to update plans: if you have a tight schedule, making a small change would require you to rearrange more than 10 blocks. However, many tasks aren't that time sensitive. The tedious experience drive users away.

Moving one task could lead to chain reactions

4. Time management is an emotional process.

"When I realize I make bad plans and I am likely to miss a deadline, I get super stressed and disappointed."

Many interviewees shared that they get stressed when delay occurs. Some of them would be affected by the stress, and perform worse in subsequent tasks.

Define

Problem

Current time management apps rarely help users to evaluate if a plan is attainable or not in advance, which means they may ask users to adhere to bad plans.

Design Opportunities

Branched from the core problem, there are three major design challenges to be addressed based on research:

1. Help the users make attainable plans in the first place

2. Help users evaluate plan progress in real-time and adjust plans accordingly

3. Make the plan adjustment process simple and smooth

4. The visual and wording should be friendly and supportive.

User Groups

We further defined two typical user groups:

Overbookers

"If I work hard enough, I could probably could finish reading 3 books and writing 5 papers in a day!"

Problem: Underestimate Workload > Book Too Much > Miss DDLs

Personality: Perfectionism / Nervous / All-nighter

Occupation: Student / Designer / Content Creator / Freelancer

Optimistic Planners

"It doesn't look like too much work, let me finish this movie first."

Problem: Underestimate Workload > Procrastinate > Miss DDLs

Personality: Chill / Forgettable / Relaxed

Occupation: Student / Artist / Freelancer

Ideation

Design Process

0 How do we know if a plan is attainable or not?

Overbookers and Optimistic Procrastinators have different behavioral pattern when they fail, but they are similar in nature: both incorrectly estimate the actual workload.

Example: Paper Writing Process

Overbookers

Underestimate Work Load

Plan 1 hour for writing the first draft right before deadline, so that you can attend a networking event.

Deadline is coming in 1 hour, and you actually spend 3 hours writing the first draft.

Miss the deadline

Optimistic Planners

Underestimate Work Load

Plan 1 hour for writing the first draft right before deadline, so that you can happily finish a series TV first.

Deadline is coming in 1 hour, and you actually spend 3 hours writing the first draft.

Miss the deadline

What if the app could tell you it is actually a 3 hour work?

In other words, if people use the same amount of time as they planned. They are likely to avoid delays in the first place. So, I should design a system that help users to make estimated time equal to actual Time

The Fundamental Assumption

Attainable Plan means: Estimated Time = Actual Time

1 How might we help the users make good plans in the first place

Stragegy: Quick Overview of Actual/Estimated Workload

Solution.1: Timed To-do List for Understanding Actual/Estimated Time

I decided to design a timed to-do list for users to understand the daily actual workload and estimated workload.

*Iteration: Add Date Picker

To make the timed to-do list easier to navigate, I added the calendar view for users to quickly find a date to check/add tasks.

Moreover, the date icon can also showcase whether the date has task or not.

2 How might we help users evaluate plan progress in real-time and adjust plans accordingly

Strategy: AI-powered personalized model for predicting delays

*For more details about the feature engineering and prediction model training, please contact me at xialinx@upenn.edu

Solution.1: Create Task with Suggested Estimated Time

Based on a personalized prediction model, the app would be able to predict whether the user will be spending more time on certain type of task.

This means the user would be able to avoid underestimating the workload from the very beginning.

Solution.2 : Pacey's 50% and 75% Progress Check

Plans change all the time. So, it is necessary to help users not only make better plans, but also update current plans to better ones when changes occur. So, I implemented the 50% and 75% progress check, which ask the user whether they are still on track when 50%/75% estimated time has passed, and make suggestions according to the progress.

3 How might we make the plan adjustment process simple and smooth

Strategy: Quick task rescheduling + Project Planner for grouped tasks

Solution.1: Provide Workload Reference When the User Reschedule

I decided to make the experience better than regular to-do list app by allowing users to reschedule based on the planned workload.

Strategy.2: Project Planner

During our MVP user testing, many users said they need a way to group a series of tasks for long term projects. So, I added the Project Planner feature. Also, the Project Planner will allow users to set critical dates as milestones.

4 How might create friendly and supportive experience?

Strategy: Introducing our AI Assistant Pacey

Solution: Pacey's Real-time Companion

Pacey not only help you manage time but also kindly reminds you to take breaks and eat healthy. Moreover, I chose to replace "You" with "We" for pronouns.

Delivery

PaceTodo: From Android MVP to iOS

The MVP was launched in October, 2022. I coded the entire app with Android. Since then, I collected user feedbacks and conducted more user interviews for the newer versions. A big change is that I switched from Android to iOS, as most of the target users, especially college students, prefer iOS over Android.

Android MVP: Released on Google Play Store for Open Testing

High-fi iOS Prototypes

Final Solution

A Quick Walkthrough

PaceTodo

A Timed To-do List that Helps You Make Better Plans with Real-time Delay Prediction

In PaceTodo, you create tasks with estimated time. Then, PaceTodo will help you track the actual time you spent on each task.

You may ask, how does the delay prediction works?

How Delay Prediction Works

Potential Delay =
k*(Estimated Time - Actual Time)

Based on your interaction data (task type, estimated time, actual time, number of breaks and sessions,  etc), PaceTodo will predict potential delays in current plans. Pacey, your smart AI assistant, will then provide real-time plan adjustment tips...

...and it is more than that!

Make Attainable Plans

Evaluate Daily Workload by Total Actual Time/Estimated  Time

PaceTodo's To-do list is organized by date. On each date, "total actual time / total estimated time" will be updated in real-time for you to understand the progress and workload.

Make Attainable Plans

Quick Reschedule Based on Workload

Just as flexible as traditional to-do list apps, but better: when you realize you just planned too much for certain days, you can reschedule to other days based on the estimated time already planned in these days.

Real-Time Planning Tips

Create Task with  Delay Prediction

When you are creating a new task, if past data shows you tend to spend more time than your estimation with this type of task, Pacey will kindly suggest you to save more time for this task.

Real-Time Planning Tips

Timer Mode as Progress Checker

As you use PaceTodo's timer mode to track actual time, Pacey will do 50% and 75% progress check and suggest new estimated time based on your current progress and personalized prediction model.

Organizing Tasks

Create Grouped Tasks and Milestones with Project Planner

For long-term projects, PaceTodo provides Project Planner for you to organize grouped tasks. It also allows you to set critical milestones in the far future.

Data Report

Understanding Expected and Actual Time Usage in last 14 Days

The data report records your time usage in the past 14 days. Compare the gap between estimated time and actual time in various categories of tasks, and prepare for better plans in the future!

PaceTodo

A Timed To-do List that Helps You Make Better Plans with Real-time Delay Prediction

In PaceTodo, you create tasks with estimated time. Then, PaceTodo will help you track the actual time you spent on each task.

You may ask, how does the delay prediction works?

How Delay Prediction Works

Potential Delay =
k*(Estimated Time - Actual Time)

Based on your interaction data (task type, estimated time, actual time, number of breaks and sessions,  etc), PaceTodo will predict potential delays in current plans. Pacey, your smart AI assistant, will then provide real-time plan adjustment tips...

...and it is more than that!

Make Attainable Plans

Evaluate Daily Workload by Total Actual Time/Estimated  Time

PaceTodo's To-do list is organized by date. On each date, "total actual time / total estimated time" will be updated in real-time for you to understand the progress and workload.

Make Attainable Plans

Quick Reschedule Based on Workload

Just as flexible as traditional to-do list apps, but better: when you realize you just planned too much for certain days, you can reschedule to other days based on the estimated time already planned in these days.

Real-Time Planning Tips

Create Task with  Delay Prediction

When you are creating a new task, if past data shows you tend to spend more time than your estimation with this type of task, Pacey will kindly suggest you to save more time for this task.

Real-Time Planning Tips

Timer Mode as Progress Checker

As you use PaceTodo's timer mode to track actual time, Pacey will do 50% and 75% progress check and suggest new estimated time based on your current progress and personalized prediction model.

Organizing Tasks

Create Grouped Tasks and Milestones with Project Planner

For long-term projects, PaceTodo provides Project Planner for you to organize grouped tasks. It also allows you to set critical milestones in the far future.

Data Report

Understanding Expected and Actual Time Usage in last 14 Days

The data report records your time usage in the past 14 days. Compare the gap between estimated time and actual time in various categories of tasks, and prepare for better plans in the future!