Why I created an app to manage my relationships
One of my biggest problems is that I forget a lot of important things about my friends and family. Things like baby due dates, kids names, where someone went on holiday, birthdays, when they have their job interview.. This makes me unsure of myself while talking to people. I forget if we talked about things before and am afraid to ask questions, unsure if I'd asked them already.
When I got annoyed by my own bad memory, I tried a few things. First I made notes in my notes app, but it was hard to find notes about a certain person later on. Then I made a prototype in Airtable, where I created contacts and could link them to notes and events. This was very useful to me. I think Airtable is great but can be complicated for the majority of users, so I decided to turn this prototype in an easy to use app.
Why it helps me
There are two ways making notes about my friends and family is helping me. First after an event like a dinner or movie night, I sit down and quickly review what I've talked about and write a small note about. This in itself is a valuable exercise, the act of reviewing what I heard helps to commit this to my memory.
Secondly when I meet people later on, I can glance at their profile in the app and go over the things I've noted down. So I'll remember to ask about or talk about certain topics I would like to follow up on.
It's not weird to make notes about people
Often when people learn about my app or write about this topic, the question is if it's strange to store your friends and family in an app and use it to 'manage' your relations.
I think it's not. I geniunly try to be attentive and toughtfull but I just need a little help. So like others use a birthday calendar to be reminded when to congratulate someone, I need a little more and make small notes of stuff I would like to remember.
So I made an app to stay on top of my personal relationships. It's called Hippo, and you can use it to make notes about people you care for. It also has todos so you won't forget to reach out and remember what you want to ask the next time you meet!
