Ethan McNamara

Nudge

Ask for attention. Respect their time.

A private reminder for someone whose task or review needs attention.

Role
Designed and built, start to finish
Status
Built foundation
Area
Coordination

36s · 4 beats

Drawn in the browser. It plays while it is on screen; pause or scrub it at any point.

The problem

A stalled review turns into another message, then another. A one-click follow-up removes the writing effort and the social friction that used to limit it.

The idea

Give the reminder a lifecycle. Keep it attached to the state of the work, so it can become unnecessary before it is ever delivered.

How it is built

Permission, preferences and the cooldown are settled on the server, then checked again before the reminder leaves.

Read the diagram as text

A project manager requests a reminder. Permission, preferences and reminder limits are checked; an allowed request becomes a pending reminder. Before delivery the work is checked again: still outstanding, a private reminder reaches the assigned person; already complete, the reminder is cancelled.

AllowedStill outstandingWork completedProject managerRequests a reminderPermission, preferencesand reminder limitsPending reminderWaits for deliveryWork stillneeds attention?Private reminder sentTo the assigned personReminder cancelledWork already complete

Diamonds are decisions. Indigo marks the path that matters. Scroll across to see all of it.

Scope

The immediate-delivery foundation is built; the queue that cancels an obsolete reminder is the proposed next layer. The film uses a fictional project and example email, and sends nothing.