Household Chores started the way most useful software does: a problem at home that a whiteboard didn’t solve. Jobs on set days, a roster that rotates so the same person isn’t always on bins, and — the part paper can never do — a nudge to whoever’s turn it is, at the time it matters.
The nudge is the product
Every feature that isn’t the notification is optional. A roster nobody reads is a list of grievances waiting to be discovered; a notification at 6pm saying it’s your turn is the whole app. Everything else — points, history, who swapped with whom — exists to make that notification fair enough that people accept it.
Push notifications are also why it’s a progressive web app rather than a website with a login. Installed to a home screen, it has an icon and can be sent a push; as a browser tab, it’s another thing to remember to open. There’s no app store in the middle, which for a family of five users is exactly the right trade.
Building for people who didn’t ask for it
Software your family uses is a harsh review process. Nobody reads instructions. Nobody creates an account twice. If a screen needs explaining, it gets ignored and you hear about it at dinner. Three things came out of that:
- Marking a job done is one tap from the notification. Anything more and it doesn’t happen.
- Being away is normal, not an error. Rosters skip and rotate rather than stacking up guilt.
- The person who set it up should not be the bottleneck. If only I can change the roster, the app becomes my chore.
From kitchen to live site
It’s now running at its own address rather than on a laptop, with the same support widget as everything else here, so “the notification didn’t arrive” reaches me as a ticket instead of a complaint over breakfast. It’s on the Household Chores project page.
If you’re weighing a small app against a shared list or a spreadsheet, the question isn’t which has more features. It’s which one gets someone to do the thing without being asked.