The Evolution of Work Productivity
In the early days of wrangling work, the first productivity tools were like simple scribblings on cave walls – capturing what needed to be done. To-do lists scrawled on paper were the only way to remember, hoping they wouldn't get lost in the shuffle.
Then came the more advanced to-dos, project management tools (Jira) acting as a shared whiteboard. Tasks could be written down, but more importantly, passed between colleagues – the first baton handoff in the work relay race.
Mobile apps like Wunderlist sprouted next, making capturing tasks even faster and easily accessible. But with more collaboration tools came the need for a central plan. Asana and Monday.com became the team blueprints, laying out the entire race course, ensuring everyone was on the same page.
Nowadays, our modern workplace is drowning in apps. The average company juggles a staggering 130 SaaS tools! However, this abundance creates a big problem: information being segregated and siloed work. An early solution to this problem was, as a central work hub, Slack. Everyone integrated all their apps funneling notifications into Slack channels to avoid missing important things. Yet again, still missing the most important things because they snoozed the channels: they were too noisy and distracting from work. As a next step, we see universal search apps (Coveo, CommandBar) helping users find information aggregated from different tools. Although making information reachable within one place, these tools are not infused into the daily work processes or activities.
This focus on teamwork ran parallel to a surge in individual optimization. A burst of specialized apps emerged, all tackling different aspects of personal performance: Superhuman streamlined emails, Clockwise carved out time for focus, Session helped achieve focus, and RescueTime provided insights on work/distraction activities. Each a personal productivity tool to help individuals excel.
A lightbulb moment struck: hoarding to-dos, no matter how many, achieves nothing without scheduling a time to work on them. That led the super calendar apps era: Motion, Fantastical, Akiflow. Users can drag and drop tasks onto your calendar and dedicate time for them.
Problem solved? —unfortunately no!
The reality of work is its fluidity:
Many times our work day is reshaped by external factors or unknowns on the way: a team member blocked by your help or answer, you are waiting a crucial piece of input from someone else. Things you became aware of only when you start working on the task itself.
That’s why we believe a new-gen work productivity app should be dynamic adapting to user’s day taking team members, company and different processes and tools into account, finding a balance in between.
It doesn't just manage tasks; it orchestrates a seamless workflow, striking the perfect balance between individual focus and collaborative power.
Our vision goes beyond the current state-of-the-art in productivity, revolutionizing work for everyone. We're building tools that understand the flow of work between people, tools, and ever-shifting contexts. We're leveraging AI to understand and improve different stages of the work process by augmenting productivity.
We foresee a future where automation handles the mundane, leaving us to tackle the truly engaging parts of our jobs!