Introducing... Cubicle!

A Pomodoro-based productivity tool

Howdy, I’ve built a new web application for helping me (and hopefully others) stay productive at work. It is called Cubicle!

Last year, I began trying a new workflow to stay efficient at work. I began writing 1 - 3 tasks that I wanted to get done in the next 20 minutes that fed into my larger goals for the day. I’d then set a Google Timer and work until the timer went off, at which point I’d take a brief break before starting my next 20 minute “work sprint”. This was borrowed from the Pomodoro Technique and has been seriously effective in getting more things done without feeling overwhelmed. But there was an issue with my new workflow… too many tools. I’d use my calendar to plan and track my schedule for the day, Google timer in a new tab for my 20 minute productivity sprints, Notion for setting and tracking my to-dos, and Notion for all of my daily notes. So, I decided to build a tool that combined all of this onto one screen.

That tool is Cubicle! Cubicle lets you set and track tasks for twenty minute work sprints, set and track daily tasks, has a 20 minute timer built into it, and lets you integrate with your Google or Outlook Calendar. Plus, I built some other fun features that lean into the 1990’s office aesthetic. Every so often, you get a scrolling message at the bottom of your screen telling you there is an “incoming memo from corporate”. This is followed my various “memos” giving you encouragement, tips, or announcing new Cubicle features. Another fun quirk of Cubicle is the background: a scanned blank piece of paper.

I built Cubicle with Replit, my IDE of choice. I am also proud to say that I built Cubicle without any help from my pal ChatGPT! For a novice like me, that feels good. It was fun digging through Stack Overflow posts like the “old days”. Some big learnings for me with this project were: the true value of divs, iframe (or any HTML element) injections with JavaScript, and lots of fun storage set and retrieval stuff.

And… I have my first paid user! A very nice person stumbled across Cubicle as I was building version 1 and wanted to use it. If you are interested in using Cubicle, let me know and I can email you the onboarding video.

So, what’s next?

First, I need to make it clean on multiple devices. Right now, things get wonky when resizing the browser window. My buddy Emmett tells me I need to use flexboxes, so hopefully that gets it done. I am also looking for a good hosting solution. Next, I am connecting the “memos from corporate” to GPT to surprise and delight users (I am the most active user and memos don't hit as hard when I hardcoded them myself). After that I plan on integrating ChromeGPT into Cubicle so you have access to an AI assistant right there in your cubicle. And of course I plan on making the AI assistant feel more like Clippy’s cousin than a sleek 2023 AI tool.

Cubicle is ultimately the latest project to fall under my “do cool things” objective. That basically means instead of worrying about long-term plans, simply do things you are genuinely interested in that challenge you. Adopting that framework has been calming and has led to several awesome projects that have helped me learn new skills and meet new people. I built Cubicle for myself and getting value out of it is a win in my book.

Thanks for reading!