Task Tracker - ADHD State Machine

Overview

Systematic task tracking designed for ADHD patterns. Prevents task abandonment through proactive interventions while maintaining accountability without judgment.

State Machine

                ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐
                │                                          │
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┌──────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ │ │ INITIATED│──▶│ SOLUTION_PROVIDED│──▶│ IN_PROGRESS │─────────┤ └──────────┘ └──────────────────┘ └─────────────┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ▼ │ │ │ ┌───────────┐ │ │ │ │ COMPLETED │ │ │ │ └───────────┘ │ │ │ │ │ ├─────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ ▼ ▼ │ │ ┌───────────┐ ┌──────────┐ │ └──────────▶│ ABANDONED │ │ BLOCKED │ │ └───────────┘ └──────────┘ │ │ │ │ ▼ ▼ │ ┌───────────┐ ┌──────────┐ │ │ DEFERRED │◀────│ (Retry) │───────────────┘ └───────────┘ └──────────┘

State Definitions

State Trigger Next Actions

INITIATED Task request received Assess complexity, provide solution

SOLUTION_PROVIDED Solution given Wait for execution signal

IN_PROGRESS User confirms working Monitor for completion

COMPLETED User confirms done Log success, update streak

ABANDONED No response + context switch Log pattern, intervention

BLOCKED External dependency Identify blocker, schedule retry

DEFERRED Conscious postponement Set reminder, capture reason

Task Metadata

Every task tracks:

task = { "id": "task_20251219_001", "description": "Review Q4 insurance renewals", "state": "INITIATED", "domain": "BUSINESS", # BUSINESS | MICHAEL | FAMILY | PERSONAL "complexity": 6, # 1-10 scale "clarity": 8, # 1-10 scale (how clear were instructions) "estimated_minutes": 45, "actual_minutes": None, "initiated_at": "2025-12-19T10:30:00Z", "solution_provided_at": None, "completed_at": None, "abandonment_count": 0, "intervention_level": 0 }

Abandonment Detection Triggers

Monitor for these patterns:

• Context Switch - New topic without closing current task

• Session End - Chat ends with task in SOLUTION_PROVIDED or IN_PROGRESS

• Time Decay - >30 minutes since solution with no update

• Topic Drift - User asks unrelated question while task pending

Detection Algorithm

def check_abandonment(task, current_message, elapsed_minutes): if task["state"] not in ["SOLUTION_PROVIDED", "IN_PROGRESS"]: return False

# Time-based trigger
if elapsed_minutes > 30:
    return True

# Context switch detection
if not is_related_to_task(current_message, task):
    return True

return False

Intervention Protocol

Level 1: Gentle Check (0-30 minutes)

📌 Quick check: [task description] - still on it?

Level 2: Pattern Observation (30-60 minutes)

🔄 I notice [task] from earlier. This is pattern #[N] this week. Continue or consciously defer?

Level 3: Direct Accountability (>60 minutes)

⚠️ ACCOUNTABILITY: [task] started [time] ago. Current status? Be honest - no judgment, just facts.

ADHD Intervention Strategies

When abandonment detected, apply these techniques:

Micro-Commitment

Break to smallest possible action:

Just step 1? [tiny specific action] That's it. Nothing else required right now.

Body Doubling

Create virtual co-working presence:

Let's do this together. You: [specific action] Me: ⏱️ Waiting... (I'll check back in 5 minutes)

Chunking

Focus tunnel vision:

Step 1 only. Confirm when done. Don't think about step 2 yet.

Energy Matching

Align with daily patterns:

It's [time] - your [peak/dip] period. [Suggest appropriate task complexity]

Workflow: Task Creation

Trigger: Any request that implies work to be done

• Extract task description from message

• Assess complexity (1-10) based on:

• Number of steps

• External dependencies

• Decision-making required

• Time estimate

• Assess clarity (1-10) based on:

• Specificity of request

• Known vs unknown elements

• Ambiguity level

• Assign domain (BUSINESS/MICHAEL/FAMILY/PERSONAL)

• Set state to INITIATED

• Provide solution → state to SOLUTION_PROVIDED

Workflow: State Transitions

INITIATED → SOLUTION_PROVIDED

After providing solution

task["state"] = "SOLUTION_PROVIDED" task["solution_provided_at"] = now()

SOLUTION_PROVIDED → IN_PROGRESS

Trigger: User says "working on it", "starting now", "doing this"

task["state"] = "IN_PROGRESS"

IN_PROGRESS → COMPLETED

Trigger: User says "done", "finished", "completed"

task["state"] = "COMPLETED" task["completed_at"] = now() task["actual_minutes"] = elapsed_time() update_streak()

Any → ABANDONED

Trigger: Abandonment detection + no response to intervention

task["state"] = "ABANDONED" task["abandonment_count"] += 1 log_pattern()

Any → BLOCKED

Trigger: User identifies external dependency

task["state"] = "BLOCKED" task["blocker"] = identified_dependency schedule_retry()

Any → DEFERRED

Trigger: Conscious postponement with reason

task["state"] = "DEFERRED" task["defer_reason"] = reason task["defer_until"] = scheduled_time

Streak Tracking

Maintain completion streak for motivation:

streak = { "current": 5, # Days with at least 1 completion "longest": 12, "total_completions": 47, "abandonment_rate": 0.23 # 23% tasks abandoned }

On completion

"✅ Done. Streak: 5 days. Total: 47 tasks."

On first task of day

"Day 6 starts now. Keep the streak alive."

Domain-Specific Behavior

BUSINESS (Everest Capital)

• Higher urgency weighting

• Deadline awareness

• Revenue impact assessment

MICHAEL (D1 Swimming)

• Connect to swim schedule

• Nutrition/training alignment

• Recruiting deadlines

FAMILY (Orthodox Observance)

• Shabbat/holiday awareness

• No work pressure evenings

• Family event priority

PERSONAL (Health/Learning)

• Energy level consideration

• Learning capture integration

• Health metric correlation

LangGraph Integration

State Schema

class TaskState(TypedDict): task_id: str description: str state: str domain: str complexity: int clarity: int elapsed_minutes: int intervention_level: int streak_current: int

Nodes

• create_task

• Initialize from user message

• provide_solution

• Generate response, update state

• check_abandonment

• Periodic abandonment check

• intervene

• Apply intervention strategy

• complete_task

• Log completion, update streak

Scripts

• scripts/task_state_machine.py

• State transition logic

• scripts/abandonment_detector.py

• Pattern detection

• scripts/streak_calculator.py

• Streak maintenance

References

• references/intervention_templates.md

• Full intervention scripts

• references/adhd_patterns.md

• Common patterns and responses