The Inbox: capture now, sort later
Most tools want a project, an owner and a due date before you've finished typing. Pounce only wants the words. Press c, write it down, and decide what it is when there's something worth deciding.
Nine ideas. Not ninety settings.
Pounce is small on purpose. Here's every idea in it, and why each one is there.
Today, with do dates
You don't need every task your company has created since 2022. You need today. Pull in what you're doing, or give a task a do date and it turns up in Today on that day. A counter keeps track of what you've finished, and at your own midnight Today empties, sending anything left back where it came from.
Anytime and Projects
Every task lives in one of two places. Projects group related work: make as many as you like, keep them going for good, or give them a due date. Everything else lives in Anytime, ready whenever you are. A task is never in both, so nothing turns up twice. Upcoming lays out what's coming, and the Logbook keeps what's done.
Tags: your own views
Tag tasks with whatever helps, like bug, quote or reprint. Open a tag and you'll see every task that has it, wherever it lives in Pounce.
Waiting on
"Blocked" tells you nothing. "Waiting on Hartley Paper to deliver the 400gsm, chase Thursday" tells you everything. Waiting on is a status with a note and a chase date, and both show right in the list for the whole team.
Extras
Make a profile for any company, person or AI you work with, then assign them tasks or add them as support. They look like teammates, but they never log in and never get notified.
Undo that tells the truth
Every change comes with a way back. Undo follows the same rules as the original change, and the timeline records both. Nothing happens that nobody can explain later.
One task, one notification
Most tools ping you once per change. Pounce tells you once per task. Emails wait a little, then only include what you still haven't seen.
Insights: nine plain questions
What's arriving? What's finishing? What keeps getting pushed back? Where is work stuck? Each answer is a sentence, and every number in it is clickable.
Included in the Business planKeyboard beats clicking.
Get around Pounce without touching the mouse. Press ? in the app to bring up this list.
- c
- Capture a task, from any page
- ⌘Kor/
- Find anything, or go anywhere
- v
- Open the Pounce Menu
- 1234
- Go to Inbox, Today, Anytime or Projects
- t
- Put the task you're on into Today, or take it out
- Enter
- Open what the palette has highlighted
- Esc
- Close whatever is open, or go back
- ?
- Show this list
That's the whole product: nine ideas that work together, and nothing to learn before you start.
How work moves through Pounce
Capture it now.
Press c from anywhere and start typing. There's no form, no project picker and no owner field. It lands in the Inbox until you decide what it is.
Hand it over. Or don't, yet.
Give it to someone, or leave it with the team. Work nobody has claimed stays in Anytime or its project, in plain sight, so it doesn't disappear just because nobody picked it up.
Get on with Today.
Everyone gets their own short list of what they're doing today. Pull tasks in, or give them a do date and they'll arrive on the day. At your midnight it empties and everything goes back where it came from.
Wait on purpose.
Set the status to Waiting on, then say what you're waiting for and when you'll chase it. It shows in the list for the whole team, so nobody has to ask.
Your printer doesn't need a password.
Suppliers, freelancers and clients are part of the work. They don't need to be part of the software.
Your team doesn't work alone. There's the paper supplier, the photographer you use twice a year, the client who takes a week to sign anything off, and maybe an AI doing part of the job. They're all involved in the work. None of them need to be in your task software.
So Pounce has Extras.
An Extra is a profile you make yourself, for anyone or anything: a company, a person, a contractor, an AI. It looks and works like a teammate. Assign it a task or add it as support, and everyone can see at a glance who's actually involved.
The difference is that Extras never log in and never hear a thing. No invite, no email, no notification, and no look at a single task. They're there for your team, and nobody else.
Teammates have round pictures. Extras have square ones, so you can always tell who's who.
Everyone in your workspace can see who your Extras are. That's deliberate. If Hartley Paper is holding up three jobs, the whole team should know who Hartley Paper is.
Fair questions.
Straight answers, including the ones where the answer is no.
Waiting and Extras
Can I wait on someone outside the team?
Yes. Write whoever it is into the waiting note: a supplier, a client, anyone. If they come up often, make them an Extra so you can add them to the task too.
Does the person I'm waiting on get notified?
No. The waiting note is for your team. Pounce doesn't send it to anyone.
Do Extras get emailed?
No. Extras never get an email, a notification or a look at any task. They only exist inside your workspace, for your team.
Workspaces and views
Can I be in more than one workspace?
Yes. One account can be in as many workspaces as you like, and you can switch between them any time.
What's the difference between a do date and a due date?
A due date is when something should be finished, and most of them end up overdue. A do date is when you'll actually work on it. Give a task a do date and it turns up in Today on that day. Projects can still have a due date.
Can a task be in Anytime and a project at once?
No. A task lives in one place, either a project or Anytime, so nothing shows up twice.
How do I see everything with the same tag?
Open the tag. You'll see every task that has it, wherever it lives in Pounce.