Building a Better Planner App

[Editors note: The Momentum app launched in June of 2022! Sign up today for a free 30-day trial]

Why don’t planner apps just work? 

One of the most common complaints we hear about the most powerful planner apps is that they require an enormous amount of learning, or a significant investment in customization. 

We’re a month away from launching the pre-sale for Momentum, the software version of our Momentum Planner. The Digital Momentum Planner has been downloaded more than one million times, and the number one piece of feedback we get is that it just works the way our brains work. 

In this blog post I’m going to update where we’re at in the process, and ask you to support the launch of the crowdfunding campaign by doing one very simple thing: 

Go to Kickstarter.com and click the button that looks like this: 

Why Do I Need to Sign Up Now?

If you click that button, you’ll be among the first to know when the actual crowdfunding campaign goes live. At that point, you’ll be able to reserve access to the early Beta test of Momentum by participating at whatever level makes sense to you. Clicking the button doesn’t obligate you to buy anything, but it does help us.

Campaigns on Kickstarter are added to the top of the Discovery section on Kickstarter.com, and added to their email curation list, when people sign up to hear about them. If enough of you click that button, we have a better chance of being included in Kickstarter’s curated lists and emails, which will significantly increase the chance that people who’ve never heard of Productive Flourishing will have a chance to get early access to the app. 

What is Momentum? 

For those who aren’t familiar with the Momentum methods, outlined by our PDF planners (which have been downloaded more than one million times), this crowdfunding campaign will be taking the Momentum Planner from a PDF to a true digital software product. 

Here’s a sneak peek at the weekly view of the software. 

At launch, our plan is for Momentum to include the following features: 

• Daily, Weekly, Monthly Views: The planner supports views that let you zoom from your big annual goals all the way down to what you’re doing today. 

• Guided Onboarding: Even with a functional and user-friendly design, we still provide a seamless experience on how to use the app.

• Desktop and Mobile Functionality: Momentum will launch as a browser-based app, which means it will work on your computer so you can do more intensive planning there, plus have the ability to view and edit from the browser on your mobile device.

• Archive View: Your projects don’t disappear when you decide not to do them. Instead, we stow them in an archive you can review to see if you want to bring back any projects. 

• The 5 Projects Rule: Science tells us that our brains can manage no more than 5 projects in any time view. Knowing this, we’ll show you your top 5 projects in any given time view, like day, week or month. 

• Prioritize, Confirm, or Defer: Projects flow from your month to your week and daily view. At each stage you can choose whether to prioritize, confirm, or defer each project for that time view. 

• Single Sign-On: Login with an email and password, or your Google or Apple account. 

• Techniques Guided By Science: Principles from positive psychology and behavioral economics are baked right into the design. Colors, reminders and notifications are gentle, positive, and encouraging. 

• Calm Technology: Every aspect of Momentum is designed to keep you calm and focused, not rushed and anxious. Tooltips guide you at each stage of planning so you’re not wondering how to plan. 

• Theming: We will launch with three individual color and font themes: PF Minimal, Sparkly, and Corporate Blue. 

If you’d like, you can see us talking about why we chose these features with our app developers, Krit. 

Why is PF Crowdfunding? 

We plan to launch Momentum in Q2 of 2022. 

With over $200,000 put into the development of Momentum, we are beyond thrilled to see this project come to life. What we are looking for now is to find the people who want to come along with us on the journey and help us build the best personal planning app in the market. 

Simply put: the more people who help us fund the app, the better we can make it. 

We have a ton of ideas for what would make an amazing planner experience. If enough of you come along with us on the journey, here are some things we have in mind: 

• Energy levels: Mark your tasks with color indicators that show how much energy they’re going to take, so you can see whether you’ve set too many big tasks in your time view. 

• Deadlines and events visually associated with the project: Each deadline and event is visually tied to the project it’s associated with. So if you have a meeting on Thursday, we can show you if it’s related to your priority projects for the week or not. 

• Customizable dashboard view: In each view you can rearrange the layout to put your preferred items front and center. If you prefer your daily tasks as the first thing you see, you’ll be able to do that. 

• Two-Way Calendar Sync: Our schedules are crazy enough, so it makes more sense to keep all of our calendars in one organized place.

• Native mobile app: In addition to the browser-based software, we’d also develop a native mobile app. 

• Stickers: For those who like to decorate their planners, the mobile app will come complete with customizable stickers and virtual washi tape that you can use to personalize your planner. 

• Smart Streaks for Routines: There’s nothing quite like a little healthy competition (with yourself) to keep your routines going every day. Badges and gamification elements for completing projects. 

• Chatbot onboarding experience: MAppy, the software bot powered by artificial intelligence, will help you understand how to plan better and stay focused on the right projects. 

Through December, we’re going to break down the principles of the Momentum Planning method and show you how those principles were built into Momentum from the ground up.

In the meanwhile, get on the early notification list and then click that big green button! [Note: The Kickstarter campaign has closed, but you can visit the Momentum app website for more information]