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Comment by sethg | Hacker News Reader

I once suggested to my wife that we use the RT bug-tracking system to keep track of household chores. And then, I said, we could create an RT account for each of the kids, and buy each of the kids an iPad Mini, with the Safari homepage set to the RT page, so that as soon as they opened their browsers, they could see what chores they had to do, and easily report on their progress!

For some reason, she was not convinced.

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I don't think something like that should be tied too much to the device itself; it should rather act like a hub than a device in that regard.

For instance, you could employ geofencing and remind them of daily chores they may have forgotten, when they leave the house. Of course, geofencing is pretty imprecise at the moment - at least on my iPhone 4.

Much the same way, you could ask them to fetch something from the grocery store, if they're nearby or already there. That way, it gets less annoying than a text message at work, instance.

Having to check a website or app for chores is something that itself feels like a chore. Automated reminders and such that ping the person are the way to go, I think. Or electronics built into daily appliances and such.

Something like this could be done with an app that I had helped to build called Reminders with Friends [http://www.slyceapps.com/reminders]. We allow you to create goefenced reminders and send them to other users.

You're not alone in wanting to leverage the power of an issue tracker for more mundane tasks (Eventum, in my case: https://launchpad.net/eventum). Efficient as they may be, even I was reluctant to allow family members to create tickets for me. But the main reason I haven't done it is that taking a break from work shouldn't mean spending more time at the computer. It would be handy for tracking major projects, though, especially since it helps to organize contact information in a meaningful context.

I use Astrid Tasks on my Android devices, and I've used it similarly. It lets you create task lists that can be shared among multiple users, so it's really handy to have some shared lists like "Home", "Shopping", etc. that sync across other people in the household. Plus it comes with a nice home screen widget, allows for recurring tasks, supports comments on tasks, and other helpful things.

I've been looking at chore monster and chore wars for much the same purpose. I've tried using dry issue tracking systems, and for as creative as these "gamified" options are, I still don't see them having enough hook to truly integrate into the family routine.

RT?

http://www.bestpractical.com/rt/

Request Tracker http://www.bestpractical.com/rt/

Request Tracker. I used it for a few years for tracking IT requests and it is solid for general request... tracking. Lots of plugins, very mature.

http://www.bestpractical.com/rt/

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