When we first decided to build a productivity app, we pictured ourselves calmly orchestrating tasks like productivity wizards. In reality, we spent more time scrambling to meet our own deadlines, chasing random bugs, and swearing at feature creep. It was a humbling experience — turns out, building the very tool that’s supposed to make everyone more organized can be seriously disorganized behind the scenes.
As we welcome 2025, we’d like to share what we’ve learned this year while developing Weave – our automated task management app.
1. Perfect is the enemy of done
When we started, we wanted to do what everyone wants when they build something. We wanted it to be perfect. Weave is our baby and we want it to be as amazing as possible and help as many people as possible. So we did the only logical thing. We put together a massive list of “must-have” features, convinced that we needed all of them right away.
As the list grew, we started to lose sight of what Weave was supposed to be, a simple to use but effective task management app. Not the all in one project management, task organization, calendar planning, backflipping, singing, and dancing app.
We zeroed in on what we wanted to achieve and let go of the (wholly unfeasible) dream of building the ultimate all in 1 magical productivity tool to all of life’s problems, while holding on to some ideas that would be great to implement in the future.
What we learned:
- Focus on the features that truly matter to what you’re building first. What makes your product (or project) and do that. The MacBook Air can’t render 4k video while you play Rocket League in the middle of a zoom meeting, because that’s not what it was meant to do.
- Trying to make our app flawless before any real world feedback is like trying to guess what you’d want for lunch in 2 weeks. I don’t even know what I want for lunch in 1 hour.
2. Embrace the power of micro-breaks
We would power through 12 hour work sessions with little more than leftover pizza, bags of chips, and an unlimited supply of coffee. Over time we became painfully aware of how our quality of work and efficiency would slip.
Regularly stepping away from our screens, whether it’s for a walk, a quick workout, or yes even a quick 15 minute gaming session, benefited our mental clarity and creativity more than any energy drink could. RedBull may give you wings but wings weren’t particularly helpful when we were trying to buckle down.
What we learned:
- Regularly take short breaks. Even a 5 minute break can help reset your focus and help prevent zombie worker syndrome (I made that up).
- Figure out what’s your recharge ritual. Is it a walk or dancing to 60s music. Find something that helps you recharge without accidentally draining hours of your time (looking at you TikTok) and do it regularly.
3. Feedback is a gift, even if it bites you
In our early stages, we talked about our ideas with friends and showed them mockups of our UI design. One of them proceeded to “lovingly” rip it apart and point out enough issues to fill a small encyclopedia of failures.
After a few days of reconsidering our friendship, we realized this feedback could be pure gold. There were a lot of perspectives we didn’t consider and may not have thought of. Even if we didn’t agree it’s good to keep these perspectives in mind.
What we learned:
- Collect feedback early and often. Whether it’s feedback from your users or a friendly chat with your friends, get input. They may help you see what you’ve been missing.
- Don’t take it personally. The best products emerge from building on honest feedback. If you genuinely want to build something people will love, you have to listen to them.
The Bottom Line: Progress Over Perfection
If there’s one overarching lesson from building a productivity app, it’s this: productivity is about progress, not perfection. Every day, aim to be a bit more focused, a bit more strategic, and a bit kinder to yourself. Your to-do list might not shrink overnight, but you’ll be in a better headspace to tackle whatever comes your way.
And hey, if you need a little help along the way, that’s what Weave is for. We’re building it to make your workday more efficient, your schedule more manageable, and your life hopefully a little happier. Because the true measure of productivity isn’t just how many tasks you check off; it’s how fulfilled you feel at the end of the day.
Join Our Journey
As we move closer to our official launch, we’d love for you to follow our ongoing adventure. Signup to our waiting list to get the latest updates on Weave’s development and be the first to know when we launch!
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