# TaskRatchet Development Updates

**URL:** <https://forum.beeminder.com/t/taskratchet-development-updates/5037>\
**Category:** Tech\
**Created:** [March 1, 2019, 8:51pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/taskratchet-development-updates/5037 "2019-03-01T20:51:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 21

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**Author:** ![narthur](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/narthur/32/5113_2.png) [@narthur](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/narthur)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 9:40pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/taskratchet-development-updates/5037/21 "2019-05-14T21:40:21Z")

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So far I’ve had one conversation with @zzq. It was very insightful. I’d like to have a lot more interviews with potential users ([hint, hint](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/interested-in-taskratchet-can-we-have-a-conversation/5291)), or really anyone who uses Beeminder. I need to start reaching out to more people directly to schedule interviews instead of waiting for interviews to come to me. Probably should make a goal for that… 😉

[https://www.beeminder.com/narthur/tr-contact](https://www.beeminder.com/narthur/tr-contact)

I’d also really like to switch as quickly as possible to getting feedback from real users instead of potential users, and that means MVP time. I’m thinking I could start out by sending a daily email to a group of alpha users asking them what’s on their plate for the day. They can respond back (or not) with a list of tasks and stakes for each. I’ll then enter those tasks into an AirTable base. I can generate views using the base to see what tasks are upcoming or overdue, and send email reminders to the appropriate users. If a user misses a deadline, I can manually create a charge in Stripe.

This is so ridiculously manual that I have a feeling I won’t be able to resist the urge to automate almost as soon as I start. But I think if I can resist that urge for just a little bit I stand to learn a lot by having such a high level of awareness into how the system is working for those daring enough to join the experiment.

Thankfully, once I do stop resisting, AirTable has a fantastic API, and I think Stripe has a good one too (haven’t used it), so getting the first level of automation up-and-running shouldn’t be that hard.

Beyond that, I’ll let user feedback direct the project.

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