Slots
A calendar-based app that randomly assigns you a task at the scheduled time.
The Problem Area
I found myself spending more time deciding what to do than actually doing it.
The problem was that every free hour came with a new decision.
Work on a side project?
Read?
Write?
Exercise?
Every option felt equally important. Every task competed for attention. Nothing felt urgent enough.
The Challenge
The issue isn't laziness. It's decision fatigue.
The problem isn't lack of options. It's having too many equally valid options.
Should two courses be judged equal, then the will cannot break the deadlock, all it can do is to suspend judgement until the circumstances change, and the right course of action is clear.
— Jean Buridan, c. 1340
Framing
How might we reduce decision fatigue at the moment of action?
After reviewing productivity literature, personal observations, and behavioral psychology patterns, the insights emerged that
The best moment to make decisions is before cognitive load appears.
Product COncept
Slots. A calendar-based app that randomly assigns you a task at the scheduled time.
The mechanic is simple — you create categories, you add tasks to each category, you schedule a time slot. A few minutes before the slot, the app assigns you one task from that category.
Features
Feature 01: Category Creation
Users should be able to control the rules of the system, not every outcome.
By scheduling intent instead of tasks, commitment becomes easier.
Users define Name → Color → Task reveal timing
The reveal timer determines how many minutes before a slot the assigned task becomes visible.
The reveal timer became an important behavioral design decision.
Reveal too early:
Users start evaluating
Users negotiate with themselves
Decision fatigue returns
Reveal too late:
Users feel ambushed
Resistance increases
The configurable reveal window creates a balance between preparation and commitment.
Feature 02: Task Creation
The goal is reducing decision fatigue without creating chaos.
The product transforms a collection of tasks into a decision-management system rather than just another task manager.
When creating a task, users can
Assign a task name → Associate it with a category → Define prerequisite tasks
The category creates meaning.
Without categories, the system would be choosing from a giant pool of unrelated tasks.
With categories, users can reserve time for a specific type of work while allowing the system to determine the exact task.
This separation is what makes the core experience possible.
Users can define prerequisite relationships between tasks.
A task can only become eligible for assignment when its dependencies have been completed.
Dependencies allow Slots to maintain the benefits of automation without sacrificing logical progress.
Feature 03: Scheduling Category
Users to decide both what they will do and when they will do it. This creates friction at the planning stage. Commit to intent first. Decide specifics later.
To schedule a single hour, users must answer:
Which task?
Is it the highest priority?
Will I still want to do it then?
Should I schedule something else instead?
The commitment becomes harder than it needs to be.
Users define Category → Start Time → Duration
The reveal timer determines how many minutes before a slot the assigned task becomes visible.
Instead of scheduling individual tasks, users schedule a category of work.
The specific task is intentionally left undecided.
That decision is deferred until closer to execution.
This subtle shift dramatically lowers the cognitive effort required to commit. By separating time commitment from task selection, the product reduces planning friction while preserving future flexibility.
Feature 04: Task Reveal
At the moment of work, clarity beats freedom.
This is the most important modal in the product. It's where the philosophy becomes tangible.
Two skips became a deliberate compromise between agency and commitment.
This became a key trust-building mechanism.
Allowing two skips:
preserves autonomy
prevents frustration
avoids endless renegotiation
Unlimited skips would recreate the original problem.
Zero skips would feel authoritarian.
Feature 05: Active Slot Management
At the moment of work, clarity beats freedom.
Work is rarely completed in a single sitting.
Many productivity tools force tasks into a binary state:
Complete
Incomplete
While many activities require repeated sessions.
Once a task is surfaced, users can:
Skip Task
Mark Complete: Removes the task from the category. Suitable for finite work.
Schedule Another: Keeps the task inside the category and schedules a future work session. Suitable for ongoing work.
System Architecture
Frontend
Built Using Lovable
Backend
Powered by Supabase for Authentication and User Database
Calendar Layer
Google Calendar API integration: automatically syncs scheduled sessions with users' calendars.
Reflections
The key innovation is deciding where intelligence should intervene.
Digital products have treated user control as inherently valuable. But every choice has a cognitive cost.
The future of intelligent products may not be about maximizing user agency.
It may be about understanding which decisions are meaningful for humans,and which decisions are administrative overhead.
Good design is giving users control only where it creates value.