Experimentation for improvement

[Sheik]

I started a Coursera course (which I ended up dropping) called Experimentation for Improvement, which showed how data can be used very efficiently for making improvements. With this kind of analysis you can find complex patterns and things you wouldn't ordinarily recognize.

So anyway I've had this idea for a while: an app where you can log many different habits and things, that can analyze and help you find patterns in your life that you are not aware of. I wonder if such an app already exists.

So for example, logging how many hours a day you spend indoors vs outdoors, your overall mood each day, time spent alone, creativity and spontaneity, supplements taken, sleep quality and time, ... the possibilities are endless.

The ultimate app would be one that would connect with Cronometer, but that seems like a pipe dream.

But you could find an optimum general time spent meditating, working, and so on. Maybe recognize that spending a lot of time in the sun has diminishing returns (or is maybe harmful to your overall sense of wellbeing), and then decide what to do with that information. Maybe a certain supplement seems to have negative effects when you haven't slept well. Maybe you find synergies between certain activities and supplements.

Some of us have been in bad health for a very long time and we're really struggling to figure out why. Having empirical data on our own life could be very empowering.

Is anyone aware of such an app, or an app that could be used in this way?

 

[sugar daddy]

That's a great idea, any app builders here?

 

[DKayJoe]

It sounds very interesting but how could you differentiate what each activity was having an effect on directly? Like if you were measuring how much being outdoors made you happier for instance, how do you know that a different variable in your life isn't affecting your mood as well and to a greater extent?

Surely you'd have to control as many variables other than the dependant one as well as being able to clarify which independent ones were actually worth being marked as independent?

Not trying to be a buzzkill I'm just saying for it to be effective you'd have to do a lot of thinking and setting up to accurately measure reliable results.

 

[Sheik]

Not trying to be a buzzkill I'm just saying for it to be effective you'd have to do a lot of thinking and setting up to accurately measure reliable results.

No, definitely. The app would only show you patterns. It's up to you to figure out what it means and what to do about it.

As far getting reliable results, that's kind of the point of the app in the first place; life is complex and difficult to figure out. The app would help you see more clearly what's working and what's not, though still not perfectly.

There's got to be something already in existence that would work for this.

 

[DKayJoe]

http://fieldguide.gizmodo.com/7-apps-an ... 1677057680

Maybe something like one of these then? The top one seems cool as it prompts you to log timings throughout the day, I haven't read into them too much but I'm sure there would be some sort of place in the apps where you could note your mood and other changes you want to log. It seems like what you're talking about would be a time tracking app that collates data to give you a run down combined with some sort of digital journal to log your results/findings. Definitely a very interesting idea and though I'm not versed what-so-ever in making apps I can't imagine it would be that hard to do!