An analysis of productivity app strengths: An environmental scan

BACKGROUNDIn recent years, productivity apps have become the most commonly used apps. While some may feel productivity apps work solely as a result of the placebo effect , productivity apps have been shown to have three major benefits: accountability, assessment, and improvement. Stress levels were especially reduced in the two meditation groups as opposed to the muscle relaxation group . Furthermore, there has been reported evidence on the effectiveness of app-based meditation and mindfulness in reducing stress and increasing productivity for users.METHODSIn order to answer the research question, published articles from ProQuest, Business Source Premier and Web of Science were used. Additionally, Harvard Business Review was also used as a source of grey literature. Information was collected in order to determine the strengths of competing productivity apps and how they could limit or be applied to the Felicity App. The research was reviewed based on screening tools that assessed validity and relevance. Included studies were published within Asia, North America, Australia, or Europe, and were either quantitative, qualitative, randomized controlled trial (RCT), surveys, experiments with participants, or academic studies. Study screening and extraction were completed independently among two authors. Disagreements following reconciliation between the two authors were settled by a third author.RESULTSThe selected articles discuss information including methods of improving productivity, mobile-based interventions that are effective at improving either overall health or productivity, and techniques that may be applicable to the Felicity App as a mobile-based intervention.CONCLUSIONThe results show that the Felicity App can improve user outcomes by integrating features from other applications.