TimeChi Failed to Fulfill Orders, So This Maker Built His Own Productivity Tool
Salim Benbouziyane built his own time-management and productivity-enhancing device called Focus Dial, inspired by the defunct TimeChi.
Crowdfunding can be a bit of a gamble. Even if we ignore the outright scams, legitimate campaigns very frequently fail to deliver—both figuratively and literally. That was the case with TimeChi and Salim Benbouziyane was rightfully disappointed. But instead of giving up on the idea, he decided to build his own “Focus Dial.”
The TimeChi IndieGoGo campaign raised a whopping €215,876 (about $224,500 USD) back in 2020. It was supposed to be a “Fitbit for your productivity,” a kind of time-management device intended to help people make better use of their work hours. But backers never received their TimeChi devices. In July of 2022, Sean Greenhalgh posted an update on IndieGoGo stating that the company was going into liquidation. There haven’t been any updates since then and backers have been upset since.
However, Salim Benbouziyane is a talented multi-disciplinary maker and knew he could accomplish what TimeChi failed to do with a quarter of a million dollars in funding: create a functional device for managing time and increasing productivity. He took a lot of inspiration from the TimeChi, but the particulars of the design are entirely his own. In fact, it is probably better than what TimeChi promised, thanks to nifty hardware and software features.
Focus Dial has several features and most of them work through Home Assistant, which is very popular open source home automation software. Home Assistant can control just about anything in a home and so Focus Dial can, too. It can, for example, enable a “scene” that dims the lights, plays focus-enhancing music, turns off the TV, and blocks distracting websites like YouTube and Reddit. It Benbouziyane’s case, it also sets “Do Not Disturb” mode on an iPhone. That is a bit janky and requires some weird workarounds with iOS automation, but it works.
On the hardware side, the Focus Dial looks beautiful. Benbouziyane’s skill at industrial design is on full display here. Even better than the great aesthetic is the BoM, which includes only off-the-shelf components that are easy to source. One example is the brain, which is an Adafruit QT Py ESP32 Pico development board. Focus Dial doesn’t even need a custom PCB, making it very approachable to novice makers.
The enclosure parts are 3D-printable. They can be made with a typical FDM printer, but resin printers yield premium results. The only tricky bit is the light diffuser for the LED ring, which is molded silicone.
This project is sure to appeal to the snubbed backers of the TimeChi campaign and there is good news: Focus Dial is entirely open source. All of the files are on GitHub and Benbouziyane even posted a build tutorial on Hackster.
