HACKER Q&A
📣 gbessoni

Why do task apps fail at task initiation?


I’ve noticed many task apps are good at planning, but still weak at helping people actually start.

I dug through Reddit threads on ADHD/executive dysfunction and kept seeing the same pattern: people don’t need more organization features — they need lower friction to begin the first step.

So I built a voice-first task app around that idea: - quick voice capture instead of typing - one-task-at-a-time flow - built-in timer to force a start

I’m curious from the HN crowd: 1. Why do you think most task apps fail at initiation? 2. What interaction patterns actually help you start? 3. What would you test first in a product like this?

If you want, I can share what patterns I extracted from Reddit and what I’m measuring now.

  👤 PaulHoule Accepted Answer ✓
When I am finding tasks hard to complete I fall back to paper lists. These are privileged relative to all the things that live on a screen and compete with all the things I need to deal with to get the tasks done that... also live on a screen.
👤 apothegm
Because task initiation has very little to do with tracking tasks. It’s far more internal than external, and apps can’t really fix that.
👤 snowhale
apothegm has it right. the deeper issue is that opening a task app IS a context switch, which is friction at the exact moment you're trying to overcome friction. paper works because you don't have to navigate anything -- you just look at it. voice capture helps for the same reason but you still have to open the app to do anything with the output.