Do you remember the last letter you received? Was it a love note or an invoice? We suspect the latter and dealing with this type of mail – invoices, tax statements, and alike – is an arduous tasks. We need to do it, but if it is still two weeks until the deadline is due, we probably put the letter just on top of a mounting heap. The trouble starts later: just one day left to finish the tax declaration. We promise reform. Next time we will answer immediately. Maybe.
Tobias Ellinger suggests DokuTrans to reflect upon this. It is a pin board to put up all the letters and documents you need to answer. But DokuTrans is cruel. It continuously moves added documents upwards, out of sight out of mind. On one hand, this helps because it shows which letters are the oldest. On the other hand, it makes a mess of all the letters, which remain unanswered within a week.
What we like about DokuTrans
Matthias Laschke: Procrastination is one of the most exciting topics in the design of Transformational Objects. DokuTrans clearly highlights some important insights into this phenomenon. DokuTrans offers some help to organize pending tasks – people can arrange incoming letters – but it also takes a clear position towards overdue tasks – by causing chaos. From procrastination in general and the specific practice of not answering mail to the way the pin board reflects upon this, is a long way. DokuTrans is well-researched and well-presented.
Marc Hassenzahl: I very much enjoyed the DokuTrans’ cruelty. Like many others, I tend to put important letters on display to be reminded. This sounds a rational thing to do, but it is not. It is just a socially accepted way to procrastinate. I should have answered my mail immediately. DokuTrans is different. Instead of reminding me over and over again with beautifully designed alarms and notes, it takes my mail away – slowly but steadily, it creates the “out of sight out of mind” I (at least superficially) try to avoid. But I will not surrender my precious mail to the beast. I will defeat it – even if this takes answering my mail within a week.
