Projects/Focus

Focus

Focus enables you to work and study more productively by removing distractions on the desktop and Internet.

Preamble

A few notes before getting started.

Plasma Activities

Disclaimer: A similar function (activity management) is being developed in Plasma. While the feature sets of Focus and Plasma Activities are not distinct, the basic rationale is.

Focus is fundamentally designed to be a distraction eliminator. Whereas, Plasma Activities provide a means to associate a set of windows, plasmoids, documents with a particular activity.

There is overlap in these visions, and ideally the two can come together to offer a complete activity and distraction management solution for the KDE desktop.

Document's Purpose

This document's function is two fold:

• Design and Planning Document
• Brain Dump - assist the author in organizing his thoughts regarding activity/distraction management

Requirements Analysis

Root Concept

Increase productivity by eliminating distractions from the desktop.

Basic Rationale

The desktop and the Internet while providing new tools and methods for increasing our productivity, have introduced near an infinite number of new means to distract ourselves and consequently decrease our net productivity.

People can focus on their task-at-hand better when potential distractions are removed. Better focus leads to more work done, and hence, greater productivity.

Stakeholder group

Procrastinators	The procrastinator is adept at finding ways to put off his work. Focus creates an environment where finding things to do on the computer outside the defined activity is difficult to do.
Un-Concentrators	Many people have problems concentrating on demand (such as ADHD sufferers), and unintentionally waste their time on irrelevant tasks (surfing, watching videos, etc.). Focus makes it more difficult for them to accidentally waste time by removing distractions and leaving the user with little else to do but his task. Note: Focus is not claiming it can "cure" the focus symptoms ADHD tend to exhibit, rather it should be considered an aid to forcing concentration (if possible).
The Overworked	These people have an impossibly long todo list, they must manage their time down to the minute each day in order to complete their tasks. Focus provides an easy means of time tracking and distraction elimination to maximize productivity.