The Refinement Club

The Ultimate Workflow System

At The Refinement Club’s second workshop we were so lucky to have a guest, the multitalented Rannveig Revhaug!

The theme of the day was workflow and we quickly established that what we want is something that will enable us to stay focused on our work without missing out on anything. Another important point was that we should be able to access as much as possible without changing interfaces or opening a new program.

Some people say the key to efficiency is to do one thing at a time, to do the most important thing first and to start now. It sounds like a good plan, but it’s more difficult to do than it seems.

If you are like us, you’d rather spend your time and brain activity on more interesting things than deciding what to make for dinner or how to get exercise. You’d rather concentrate on doing what needs to be done than worrying about how and/or when to get it done.

Our solution is to make an operating system that supports you, helps you organize your work day as well as your free time, so you can focus on what’s important. It makes your computer into the ultimate digital assistant.

We decided to call it Modes.

All the Modes are fluid, modular based and flexible (like powerful widgets). You decide what you want to be able to access in which Modes, and how you want it to look.

MANAGEMENT MODE
Project management where you are the project

Your calendar is color coded, based on the different modes and different types of activities. When you have split your day into different sections you can easily drag files/links/unanswered mails/whateveryouwant into a section and it automatically puts it into an editable task list. 

When you are in the other Modes you can see your schedule as a progress bar or timeline. You can continue to edit your schedule while in the other modes and add tasks by dragging things into the different sections. You can choose to bump other tasks to prioritize new ones, or extend sections in your schedule. When it is time to switch modes/task you are notified by the schedule and you are automatically directed to the next task if you “accept”. Everything is automatically saved and will be as you left it when you return. You can also choose to”snooze” if you’re not quite ready.

WORK MODE
In work mode, you use your programs of choice.

Much like the way iGoogle is designed, we want small versions of the web services you need in your work; dictionaries, wikis, forums, web search etc (we’d love a search by image btw).

What we don’t want is for the tiny e.g wikipedia to expand or navigate away from the work mode, or to mess up my customized design. We want the window to stay how it is until we tell it to do differently. If we decide to expand a window, to e.g view a search result better, the other windows will automatically minimalize in a fluid manner prioritizing the windows that have been active recently.

We want to be able to access a web browser in a separate window. We don’t want it to enable multiple tabs. We’d rather integrate instapaper with our schedule/task list and go back later to check out whatever interesting stuff we might have found.

We want it to be clean, crisp and organized. The work mode needs to help us get into work mode, and make multi tasking less of a messy business.

COMMUNICATION MODE
So you are a social dude?

Like to IM with all your friends while your working? Want to be updated with the latest updates on Facebook or Twitter? We want, and we are addicted to it. There is nothing better to satisfy our social media addictions than to make a mode for it. The Communication Mode is the mode where we get our fix. It’s a peek into the mind of our friends and we can easily connect with them. We want a newsfeed containing all the stuff our friends are doing online (not unlike like friendfeed or google buzz). Our newsfeed should be customizable and searchable. When your friends talk to much about football or some other boooring stuff (#mgp, #ipad…) just remove the crap from your feed by making a filter. Want your feed to just show your best friends? Let it track your conversations and determine who your friends are by who you communicate the most with. We also want a inbox containing our mail, twitter dms and Facebook messages (not unlike threadsy). When you’re in the mode of socializing it should be convenient and easy, the Communication Mode helps you to be a better friend.

Work related mail can be something you want to access from your Work Mode, but it can also be something that you won’t want to distract you when working. There’s room for serious communication in the Communication Mode as well, where you can easily connect mail or contents of mail to task lists in your schedule.

INSPIRATION MODE
The way we find inspiration online today is a chore.

You probably surf by a ton of social networks to find out what your friends are rambling about and if they got some good links or suggestions. Maybe you use google reader to feed all your blog input, but the feed is probably starting to get humongous and unmanagable for a working person. Anyways, all inspiration is scattered around the web on different places and it would be lovely to find it all in a single feed. A feed that knew who you were and what you want. A personal inspirational assistant. This is the main feature in Inspiration mode; a news feed compiled of all your friend’s posts featuring a link around all the social networks you use and your blogs of choice. The news feed isn’t just feeding out the newest stuff its working all the time to find the best inspiration suited for you based on how and what you surf the web, how you use your computer, what stuff you share, how you interact with the news feed. The news feed knows who you are and what makes you tick (there is an app for that my6sense and Johannes loves it).

Is there a blog you just have to read every day and you find yourself checking it a couple of times a day to find out the latest? With Inspiration Mode you just make a little widget for the site and if there is something new on the site you will be alerted.

Here at The Refinement Club we are heavy users of Instapaper. This webservice is crucial for our web workflow at the momment and that is why it should be implemented in all the modes and connected to the schedule. Your latest “read later” stuff will be shown in a widget box in the modes you want it in and you can just click the one you would like to read. As mentioned before you can drag links from Instapaper into the schedule and make it appear in your task list.

Examples:
Easily access your feed from the Inspirational Mode and plan your inspirational break by dragging links to e.g TED talks/blog posts into that section. When it is time for your inspirational break you are prompted by your progress bar/ timeline and you are automatically guided through your planned break.

Want to eat healthy and varied but can never find the time to prepare? Plan your meals in advance in the Management Mode. Access a specialized search that only finds recipes, choose your meals and get shopping lists made for you. Reminders are automatically added to your schedule to remind you to shop ingredients and time is put aside for cooking.

In a similar manner the Management Mode can help you find the classes you like at your gym and remind you to exercise. It can help you plan your outfits by providing it with basic information about your warderobe, combined with automated searches of style/fashion sites and the weather at your location. It can help you keep track of your economy and remind you to pay bills, as well as simplifying your social life with connecting to your contact list, location based services and Facebook connect.

So what do you think?

Next week at The Refinement Club: Search by image