Our Obsession with Time

At We Have Sun, we've become increasingly fascinated—perhaps even obsessed—with time. Obsessed enough that we decided to make it the main focus of our current and future projects. This is the story of how a simple app idea evolved into a profound exploration of time itself.

The Beginning

On February 7th, 2024 at 3:30 PM, after six years of working together, Nico and I made a pivotal decision: we would create our first product. We chose iOS as our platform, and time management as our focus. The reasoning was simple—if we could better manage our time, we'd have more of it to build our apps. A Pomodoro timer seemed like the perfect starting point, as it was the most effective method we'd found for improving focus and tracking time.

Now, 264 days later, while our beautiful Pomodoro app concept is designed and in development, something unexpected happened: this project completely transformed our relationship with time.

Initial designs

Initial designs

The Questions That Changed Everything

What began as a straightforward app development project soon sparked deeper questions:

• What is the true nature of time?

• How does the quality of our output relate to time spent?

• What constitutes meaningful use of time?

• Is time truly another dimension?

• How does the relativity of time affect our daily lives?

• How do different cultures perceive and interact with time?

• Can we measure the value of time beyond productivity?

• What role does time play in human consciousness?

These questions, many of which seemed beyond our initial scope, launched us on an unexpected journey of discovery. After an intital phase of development, we found ourselves drawn into research, experimentation, reading, and writing.

The Evolution

Our project started with a beautiful design, and we began implementation with enthusiasm:

Pomodoro app design and initial implementation

Pomodoro app animation design and initial implementation

But we paused. We realized we needed to step back and consider the bigger picture:

• How should the app fundamentally work?

• What's the most intuitive way to structure time entries?

• How can we create something that reflects our deepening understanding of time?

Our New Mission

Nine months into this journey, we're still exploring these fundamental questions. We've realized that our goal isn't simply to launch another Pomodoro timer. Instead, we're embarking on something more ambitious:

1. Rethinking our relationship with time

2. Developing new philosophies around time management

3. Conducting experiments about time perception and use

4. Creating the most robust and beautiful tool to share our findings

5. Documenting our entire process transparently

Join Our Journey

We're setting out on a multi-year adventure to explore and reimagine our relationship with time, and we want to invite you along. This isn't just about building an app—it's about understanding one of the most fundamental aspects of human experience.

We believe that by sharing our journey, experiments, and discoveries, we can create something truly meaningful together. Whether you're a developer, a time management enthusiast, or simply curious about how we perceive and use time, we welcome you to join us in this exploration.

The clock is ticking, and we couldn't be more excited about what lies ahead.