Backlog Freshening

Friday, March 18, 2022
By dreeves
A dirty bee with a can of stink-bee-gone

Last time we talked about the control systems approach to backlogs. Quick recap: make a manual do-more goal where you add a +1 for completing something and keep adjusting the slope of the bright red line such that the backlog keeps steadily shrinking. This works not just for clearing a backlog but for winning the red queen race — dispatching things at roughly the rate they're coming in at and preventing another backlog from accumulating.... »

Control Systems For Backlogs

Saturday, March 5, 2022
By dreeves
A bee staring at a diagram of a control system

Saying “control system” makes this sound fancier than it is. We mean it in the simplest sense, like how your thermostat is a control system. The temperature dropping makes your heater turn on, which makes the temperature rise, which makes your heater turn off. Slightly fancier is if the heater dials itself up gradually... »

Death To Weaselproofing; Announcing No-Excuses Mode

Tuesday, February 22, 2022
By dreeves
Stars in the sky

Previously on the blog, we pitched a particular framing of Beeminder in which paying is not punishment. People seem into it! Which is good because it was setting the stage for this announcement: We’ve killed the old »


Paying Is Not Punishment

Wednesday, February 9, 2022
By dreeves
Bee in stocks with sign that says 'i derailed on beeminder'

An under-appreciated fact about Beeminder is that it doesn’t force you to do anything. It just puts prices on things and you continue to do whatever you feel like doing, factoring in those prices. Just like you might buy a box... »

The Bright Red Staircase

Wednesday, January 26, 2022
By dreeves
Beeminder graph with a staircase as the bright red line (and a bee climbing it)

This is still pie-in-the-sky philosophical navel-gazing but it makes me very happy. Not just because I love pie-in-the-sky philosophical navel-gazing (we could say Product Vision if we wanted to sound more respectable) but because a couple years ago this sounded preposterously theoretical... »

Beeminder ♥ Focusmate

Monday, December 27, 2021
By shanaqui
Placeholder image

Announcement! Beeminder and Focusmate are officially integration partners! Beeminder’s Support Czar, Nicky, is here to tell you about it! See also the... »