Sounds like an awesome idea, only I'm sure I'd kill the plant every day. Maybe this is the wake-up call I need. Wait, am I killing it as we speak for being on this site?! :O

This is such a great idea for a product...I don't know why it hasn't yet been done. It would be great if you could make it similar to a tamagotchi. Those are fun, and they would get kids to do their homework and make it fun at the same time. Great idea! I'd buy it for sure.

Great idea, I'd love to pick that up.

One question, how would you handle multi tasking?

BoBoBobby, good question.

Here is what I was thinking:
Let's say you have a profile set up so playing Bejewelled would be negative, and using Excel would be positive.

Now, let's say you are using excel but also have Bejewelled running, and ocassionally Alt+Tab over to it. When excel is in focus, you will get max 'good points' from it, but, because bejewelled is in the background, you will slowly get 'bad points' from it, because it is still sitting there as a potential distraction. Then, when you do Alt+Tab over and start playing, you will still get some 'good points' from Excel. I guess you could set checking multitasking as a toggable option as well, and when its not set, the program only checks the window in focus.

Furthermore, I was thinking that the program would list all programs that have been run inside of its setup window, so that you can choose which category to class them under like 'Good', 'Bad', 'Ignore', that way it is much easier than having to type things in manually, they just show up in the list and you can set them to whatever category you feel they fit.

I'm not sure if it would be easy to handle "what" you are surfing. I mean you just state app vs app, but I think would be cool if certain websites could be tracked as well. Would this require a browser plug in? I don't know. But the idea itself is entertaining. I'm not sure many people would pay for it though.

Do you see software sales as driving revenue?

If we're tracking which programs are being run, that might be useful for marketing, except that would of course raise privacy concern.

Someone recently posted timelapse "paintings" of mouse movements over a work day on digg/reddit. Good to start with a simple idea, but maybe there are other dimensions we could be tracking that would also be interesting? A plant doesn't have too many ways of responding (color / health), so your Tamagotchi idea could reflect more variables (friendly / health / hunger / crapping)?

Neat idea.

hmmm, seems like a good idea, this is something that applies to anyone that works with computers (pretty much everyone nowadays), it would be interesting seeing this work and it would definitely increase my productivity.

Gordon, you make some very good points.
I guess in the install we could make an option to see if they would allow us to collect anonymous statistics, which would just include what programs were run and for how long, and that kinda stuff.

As for web browsing, I think the easiest way would be just check the title bar for certain key words. That would be the simplest way, and wouldn't involve any plugins.

As for a plant, it is kind of 'simple', but it would be possible to maybe release the plant as a free version, and charge for the more full featured 'tamagotchi' version.

A plant could still do a fair bit I guess, it could sort of 'evolve' into different kind of plants, it could bloom flowers, change colours... lots of possibilities. You are right though, much more possibilities with a tamagotchi style though.

I was talking about this to a friend and he brought up the idea that this could even be used in a corporate setting.

It could be used as a little more interesting way for tracking what employees do. Not only would the bosses have a list of what programs the employees used, but also how long they used it, much like many other programs. The advantage to this, is the employee would have their own visual indicator as to how well their productivity is going.

awesome idea

Sweet Idea dajackel!

Simple, effective and would be kinda neat to have a plant as the feedback mechanism.

Perhaps you might want to add in a task list, to do list, that contributes to your feedback on your productivity.

You could also pre-schedule events, load apps at certain times, trigger alarm reminders etc.

You could suggest other activities to do after certain continous periods of time, like go outside for some fresh air or display a positive message or affirmation etc.

I know i get lost in the 'wrong' apps before i realise the day has almost gone.

Neat idea.

Doymarn, you bring up some good points and ideas.

I love the idea of the "To Do" or the task list. That works in very well with the tracking your progress idea, and adds some more functionality to the overall package.

Reminders are also another great thing...
This could become a very nice application with some very useful features.

Sign me up. I'd buy it. Although I worry about the future of Cambrian House if everyone had a productivity plant.

Feature Idea:
Bring the plant to the for ground anytime a "bad" app is opened with as a little warning. Then start a timer, and say after 5 minutes surfing Cambrian House, the plant pops up a little nudge to remind you that you are not working.

I'm no slacker, but it is just too easy to get off track on the internet.

Stefan,
That isnt a bad idea. Have the option to have it remind you to stay on track. An indication that you've been browsing ideas on cambrian house for the last 30minutes when you should be working might push people back on track.

I like this idea. It has similarities to the idea that made the finals at mydreamapp.com called blossom. Their website is http://www.getblossom.com/

Hm. It is very similar to Blossom, so we would have to find ways to make it different. Blossom is Mac only, so there is one big difference ;)

Perhaps the little plan emits a pitiful little sigh as it withers away.

Also, perhaps keystrokes make the plant grow or die. It is too easy for me to have a report open and do nothing but read a book.

The program could check to see if the user is active, if idle for so long it stops tracking. That should solve that problem.

Would you should have a mode that when enabled, if you are not doing something productive, Its slaps the screen and plays a sound like "get back to work fu*ker" or something like that!

also...

have more that 1 avatar, not just a flower, like a plant, that grows pumpkins, or a snowman that melts.. or a girl that strips!! yaya a stripper!

Collin! ;)

Sounds good - an imaginative way of tracking time.

Lots of room for customization.

I could see a garden, one plant per app or per file, and some of them are WEEDS ;-)

Collin makes a really good point.

We could include maybe 3 different 'themes' when someone purchases it. Then we can release further themes that we sell as add ons or release free at certain times. Like Collin said, a snowman, that would be great to release in the winter and so on.

There is really a lot of potential in add ons and customizability with this I think.

This is going to be cool! It's funny, because your competition is something that will distract you from your work! SO death to myspace allerts! hahah

Such a cute little app! I'd have mine set on a little flower in a pot that sighs when it withers. But I think other people would be interested in a garden, a Beauty and the Beast style rose, or something else. Perhaps you could set up a bunch of avatars for sale to replace the stock plant?

Lindy,

Yes, that is exactly what collin mentioned and I restated up a couple comments, it is a great way to make further income once people purchase the intial product.

It also would make it appeal to a wider audience giving them more choices in their avatars to suit themselves. You could have your plant, others can have a full garden, someone could have a beautiful statue that starts crumbling if you are not working, and like collin stated, he would like a stripper!

I could use this :)
Develop the basic app first, get people to use it and like it, then drive revenue with the add-ons that have been mentioned. I don't think people will pay until they've seen positive effects on their productivity.

I think people would, because I think deep down people wouldn't buy it to increase their productivity, and they would purchase it more just for the fun of having a visual display.

maybe?

i'm not sure excel and word really increase productivity, in fact, most of what I have to type in those applications is for reports of some sorts to management...

but: if the program could also factor in task switches, that would be good idea (more than 3 task switches/hour = bad)

Task switching would have to be a user settable thing. I know often when I'm working I have to task switch.

For example, if I'm doing some web based system, I might have to switch between visual studio, oracan admin, etc.. quite often.

But, depending on the situation, you are correct and task switching could be negative, and yes, that should be fairly easy to be programmed in when you are already checking tasks and such.

This would be a really easy app to code. I can see the Software Jedi coding something similar to this:
http://www.thesoftwarejedi.com/

So this doesn't seem like a marketable product, more like an open-source widget. Good luck making money with it.

I'm a programmer myself. It's my career, it is what I do for a living.

Personally, I think to do this project right. To have it look appealing, have enough features, custimizability, and such, wouldn't be a simple task...
but, to each their own.

wow! this is the software that I've been waiting for! :D:D

This is a great idea. Most people I know who have "free reign" at work on their systems do things they probably shouldn't be doing. They check emails etc. As much as this is great for passing time for them, it's bad for productivity and a monitoring system like this is fun for the employee and great for the company. :)

i like this idea...even though i know my plant will be perma-dead...or would that be undead?

This idea would really work for me. I have days where I have a vague feeling of being unproductive (sometimes completely useless). This is a feedback system I could totally see myself using to limit the number of these days.

THiS is a great idea! i would like to have this software installed for all the workers at my company, let me know what the volume licenses cost.

Most excellent idea, I'll have to bring this idea up at work. My boss would really like it I think. I hope this wins, 'cause I'd really like to see it in production.

While I personally love location based cellphone gaming (ANYONE will tell ya that could be insanely awesome), I did have a thought on a time tracking utility I'd like to see and it might be a possible extension to Productivity Plant. The plant could offer up detailed work stats (which I'm sure existing applications already do) to help populate time sheets.

One such was of retrieving useful data to help reconstruct time sheets would be showing file access (last date modified) data thru an entire hard drive based on a certain date range. That's basically what could be built using XP's built in search capabilities. But showing the mod dates on a timeline might help illustrate when work was being performed.

Probably extremely tangential to your original idea, but just something I'd personally use and might give Productivity Plant a broader appeal.

Idea: You would start up with a basic plant. The more it looks good, the more you get reward points that would be used to buy add-ons for the plant (like different kinds of leaves or flowers)

The fealing of creating a unique plant seems really good to me.

great idea!

you could also make the plant die instantly if you go to a porn site

notty notty! XP

When will it be available? My son (A grade procrastinator in his final year) needs this now - but without the stripper option please!

http://2b0946b02309909b611016dea1b315cf-t.myhlok.info <a href="http://2b0946b02309909b611016dea1b315cf-h.myhlok.info">2b0946b02309909b611016dea1b315cf</a> [url]http://2b0946b02309909b611016dea1b315cf-b1.myhlok.info[/url] [url=http://2b0946b02309909b611016dea1b315cf-b2.myhlok.info]2b0946b02309909b611016dea1b315cf[/url] [u]http://2b0946b02309909b611016dea1b315cf-b3.myhlok.info[/u] 365cb308b82acfc7fe6dc43d1469d62d

This is awesome .. like wakoopa with a twist :) would definately use this one also a good idea for bosses to monitore homeworkers process

This great. Where are you with it?