DueThreadI never had much trouble remembering my own work. What I kept losing were the things other people owed me.
Most of what I deliver depends on someone else going first. A drawing from one person, a cost figure from another, a sign-off from a third. Each of them says they'll send it by Friday, and each of them means it. Then Friday comes, everyone is busy with something else, and the only person who notices the gap is the one waiting.
For years I kept track the way most people do: in my head, in my inbox and in scattered notes. It held up until the week it didn't. A follow-up I meant to send stayed unsent. A date someone had given me moved, and I found out when my own deadline arrived. None of it was a disaster on its own. Together it added up to a constant low worry about what I had forgotten to chase.
Why a to-do list wasn't enough
To-do apps are good at tasks. They are much weaker at waiting. A follow-up has two dates that matter: the date the other person promised, and the date you should chase them. Most apps give you one date, so you overwrite the promise every time you plan a chase, and the original commitment disappears.
The first version I built for myself was a plain list, and it didn't help, because my problem was never my own tasks. The idea that changed it came from a bid. The submission couldn't go out until inputs arrived from several people, and I needed to see at a glance what was in, what was missing and whom to call. I built a small tracker just for that bid. It became the part I relied on most, and DueThread grew out of it.
What I wanted it to do
- Keep reminding me until it's done. One reminder is easy to dismiss and forget, so reminders can repeat until the item is closed.
- Keep the promise and the chase apart. When someone moves a date, the first one stays on record.
- Know what a task is waiting on. If one input is promised after my deadline, I want to know now, not the day before.
- Stay on my computer. My notes are full of client names, figures and half-formed plans. I didn't want them on anyone's server, so DueThread has no account and never connects to the internet.
- Be where I already work. I spend my working day in Chrome. Alt+Shift+D, type one line, back to work.
Who it's for
If your work only moves when other people deliver, DueThread was built for the problem you have: consultants, project managers, bid and proposal teams, procurement, accounts, anyone who writes "just following up" more than once a week.
How it's made
I build DueThread myself, in Singaara Chennai. Nothing you type reaches me, ever, and there is no advertising or data business behind it. The free version doesn't expire, and tasks and follow-ups have no limit. DueThread Pro is one payment a year with no subscription, and it pays for the time to keep improving it.
If something doesn't work the way you expect, or you keep wishing it did something it doesn't, write to me at support@sensifty.com. Messages come to me, not to a ticket queue.
A task tracker. ;-)