Productivity apps are mostly a redundant product

Painfully agree. It's a weird space. The elite apps win by having a breadth of features as their moat, but it's challenging to do this while maintaining a coherent vision and welcoming interface. I think it's the most tough, shallow, and least rewarding market, from an app dev perspective. But I also think it's the ultimate mannequin for frontend design and computer science/machine learning, and has an alluring mystique for the highest *theoretical* value to the end user. But you're right- you can't outsource discipline, and that's the bulk of what productivity is. I've been particularly nutty about this for a long time now. Not as much in the time and scheduling sense, but more so in GTD and idea/project building. I try any app I see, and I've developed a few for myself (and a public one called Index a few years back that I crashed from sudden traffic overload and analysis paralysis). But I always revert to the basics. My idea stack now: Whiteboard - I laid a big clear PET plastic sheet on my desk, so now it's a whiteboard. I like to start the day by writing out my day's todos, weekly goals, yearly goals, and life goals. Apple Notes - Because it's right there and I need to start typing before I forget. Obviously limited but does a good job for the bulk of the basic text/scribble/todo notes. Raindrop Bookmarks - Incredible bookmarking tool. They just thought of everything related you could ever want with bookmarks, and the design feels nearly invisible. Better at lists than most list apps. Super underrated. iCloud Photos - it's easy, and there's a lot of them. Wish I had a better system for all my videos from SD cards. Google Calendar / Cron - They do what they're supposed to, no complaints. Superhuman - This is very much an expensive maximalist tool, but they did a really good job in product. It's not that it's that much better, but it still is the best. Now regular mail seems just a little too simple and slow. I don't miss the $30 each month, so good on them for getting it from me. Notion - It does everything, everywhere. My favorite starting place for projects once I consider them "work". I have a personal one too but it's a little bit walled off from my other idea building tools so I don't invest too much there. I assume this conversation leaves "work tools" in a different category so I'll just quickly mention that Loom, Figma, and Slack are super useful, and sometimes even so outside of work.

I don't necessarily think so. I think it has more to do with the person and what they want to accomplish. I personally use an app that I think is wonderful. It keeps me accountable as well as on track with the things that I want to get done =)

Hey! I think I agree in some aspects. My take has been that most productivity tools don’t significantly reduce the burden on the user. Ideally, you don’t have to go take time out to fill in your To-Do-List or manage your time better. It needs to be carried out in a manner that’s seamless and doesn’t detract you from your main activity. The space where I’m building a productivity tool is reading. If you want to make any kind of notes while reading, there is a burden on you to go out of your way to type out your thoughts in an organised fashion. And then to return to the task of reading is another context shift. Even in top research firms, employees often end up skipping this step just because it’s too much work. That’s why we think productivity tools need to integrate with the rest of what you do. That’s how you make the burden lighter. Check out [https://www.producthunt.com/post...] to see what I mean!