Deconstructing 'gamified' task-management applications

Tasks have an overwhelming effect on our management capacity, including the societal need to attend events as part of our office culture. Using gamification to make task and chore management more exciting could allow people to be more productive while they are engaged and focused on their tasks. There is currently a lack of studies on the usefulness of gamified task-management applications. We address this by investigating two memory-aid applications with task-based gamification. One app was easier to learn to use while the other was more satisfying and motivating. Participants, who felt good about an apps' reward system, were also more satisfied with its use. Conventional task managers are, however, preferred for speed and efficiency. Based on interviews, it seems that gamified task managers are not more useful than classical ones. However, there is a relationship between how participants perceive game mechanics and how useful they find an app for task management.