I’ve always found Apple’s built-in timer very restrictive. First, you can’t set it for less than a minute, and second, you can only have one timer running at a time. I wanted a list of timers, much like the list of alarms in Apple’s Clock app. For some reason, I envisioned sliders for each timer, so you could visually see how long each timer had remaining, and also so you could slide the slider partway to set the timer for only a portion of its maximum time. Just like how an old-fashioned kitchen timer may go up to 60 minutes, but you can turn the dial to 15 minutes if that’s how long you want.
This is an app I’ve wanted for a long time. I use two different time management techniques that both necessitate a timer. First, the Pomodoro Technique involves setting a timer for 25 minutes, and focusing on a single task during that time. Second, Getting Things Done recommends a “two-minute rule” for processing incoming items. That is, if the item will take less than 2 minutes to do, it’s easier to just do it than to create an entry on your to-do list for it, and process it later.
So when I’m spending a Pomodoro processing my email inbox, say I come across an email that says I need to renew my membership at a website. To do this, I need to go to the website and enter my new credit card info, and possibly take other steps. Before I start, I set my 2 minute timer, so I don’t get sidetracked by the task, and also so I get feedback on what I really can do in 2 minutes. And the Pomodoro Timer also keeps on counting down.
Retrospective
On the whole, MultiTimer took 8 1/2 weeks from start to finish. That’s not a lot of time in the overall scheme of things, but way more than even the two weeks I predicted it would take. And somehow, “app-an-eight-and-a-half-weeks” isn’t quite as catchy. Here are a few things I noticed over the course of the project that I’ll be applying in the future.
What worked:
The big win this time round was the Pomodoro Technique itself. Starting the last week of August 29th, I realized that the app wasn’t getting anywhere, and I started doing Pomodoros. (Embarrassingly enough, using another iPhone timer, since mine wasn’t ready yet.) That week I got more done than in the preceding weeks combined and I released the first beta that Friday. The final submission to the App Store came only a week and a half after that.
The other big win was outsourcing the icon design to Cari Class of Design Source Creative. This is the first time I’d worked with Cari. She quickly came up with the amazing icon you see at the top of this entry. +1 Would work with again.
What didn’t work:
I made the mistake of storing the timer settings using Core Data. I was seduced by how easily the Core Data template app handled table views backed by a database. But it turned out that Core Data required me to do a lot of additional work to handle things like re-ordering tables, and handling numeric data. In fact, the final breakthrough that led to me being able to ship was refactoring the Core Data code behind a wrapper class, so that the rest of the app didn’t have to deal with it. Once I did that coding flowed quickly and easily.
That’s not all, folks!
My app-a-week project officially ends next Friday, September 24th. I’m hoping to have another app completed and submitted by then, based on what I’ve learned in releasing MultiTimer. Stay tuned!
Update 9/23/11:
MultiTimer is now available from the iTunes App Store!
Summer officially ended Friday at 2:09 AM Pacific Daylight Time. My final app of the summer is a resubmission of Globe. The display looks exactly the same, but the touch UI is completely redone. The old, non-intuitive system had you dragging to spin the globe and tilting the iPhone to tilt the globe. The new version lets you “touch” the globe with your finger and move at around or tilt it up and down. To spin the globe, you just flick your finger. Response from people who’ve tried it hands-on has been universally positive. I hope you’ll like it. Moreover, I hope Apple’s reviewers do, so you get a chance to see it.