Ongoing is a calm task and notes web app designed to solve a major flaw in traditional productivity tools: unfinished tasks disappearing or being ignored over time.
Instead of resetting progress daily, ONgoing preserves continuity, visibility, and intentional decision-making.
The Problem
Most productivity apps are built around rigid daily resets.
Unfinished tasks get buried.
Notes get mixed with actionable items.
And over time, users accumulate silent task debt without realizing it.
This creates:
Guilt-driven task lists
Loss of progress visibility
Mental clutter instead of clarity
For users who already feel overwhelmed, traditional to-do apps amplify stress instead of reducing it.
Product Insight (What I Noticed)
While analyzing existing to-do apps, I observed a consistent UX pattern:
They optimize for task creation, not task follow-through.
Missed tasks quietly disappear into past lists.
No accountability.
No continuity.
No emotional consideration in the UX.
This gap became the foundation of ONgoing.
The Solution
ONgoing is built on a single core principle:
Unfinished work should never disappear.
Instead of resetting tasks daily, the system rolls them forward automatically, keeping progress visible and forcing intentional decisions rather than passive avoidance.
This transforms productivity from a guilt-based system into a continuity-based system.
Key Features (Framed as Product Decisions)
Smart Task Rollover
Unfinished tasks automatically carry forward to the next day, ensuring no task gets buried or forgotten.
Decision-Driven Workflow
Older tasks trigger a required action:
Do Today, Rescope, or Kill — preventing silent backlog accumulation.
Task Debt Indicator
A single metric that shows tasks older than 5 days, giving users a clear psychological view of their workload.
Tasks vs Notes Separation
Tasks remain actionable and time-bound, while notes exist in a timeless timeline to avoid cognitive mixing.
Transparent History System
Completed late and killed tasks remain visible with context, creating honest progress tracking instead of artificial productivity.
UX & Design Direction
Most productivity apps use high-alert colors, rigid layouts, and aggressive UI patterns.
Ongoing intentionally takes the opposite approach.
Soft muted palette (Mist, Sage, Blush, Sand, Sky)
Calm glass-like interface
Low visual noise
Steady interaction flow
The goal was to design a productivity tool that reduces anxiety instead of increasing urgency.
Every visual decision supports emotional clarity and sustained focus.
Challenges
One of the main challenges was balancing minimal UI with strong accountability features.
Another key challenge was differentiating ONgoing from generic to-do apps while keeping the experience intuitive and non-overwhelming.
Designing a “calm” interface that still communicates urgency (like task debt and rollover) required careful UX prioritization.