The choices behind a calmer, simpler ComingUp Today.
Some ideas aren’t the right fit. Here’s what we considered, why we decided against it, and what we’re doing instead.
Google Drive-backed Ambient Photos
What we considered
Using a selected Google Drive folder as the source for Ambient Photos.
Why we decided against it
Making Google Drive a dependable photo source would require more ongoing access to a household's Drive than we think a convenience feature should need, while also making the display dependent on another service.
What we're doing instead
ComingUp-managed private photos built specifically for Household Display, with private storage and delivery that does not depend on an external photo library remaining available.
What could change our mind
A substantially simpler provider model that can reliably provide the selected photos without requiring broader ongoing access.
Proprietary ComingUp display hardware
What we considered
Building and selling a dedicated ComingUp household display device.
Why we decided against it
Manufacturing, logistics, replacement cycles, device support, added household cost, and ecosystem lock-in create substantial complexity without currently solving the coordination problem better than hardware families already own.
What we're doing instead
A browser-first Household Display that works on existing tablets, computers, and browser-capable displays, with existing smart-display ecosystems used where they provide a practical path.
What could change our mind
Clear evidence that dedicated hardware solves an important coordination need that browser-first and existing-device approaches cannot serve well.
Writing back to external calendars
What we considered
Allowing ComingUp Today to edit events in connected Google, iCloud, or future external calendar providers.
Why we decided against it
Write-back would blur ownership and make it harder to explain which system is authoritative when provider rules, synchronization timing, or failures differ. That ambiguity conflicts with ComingUp Today's read-only integration model.
What we're doing instead
External calendars remain owned and edited in their source systems. ComingUp Today imports them read-only and only mutates objects that ComingUp itself owns.
What could change our mind
The product's authority model would need to be deliberately revised while preserving an equally clear and explainable ownership boundary.
Behavior scoring and family gamification
What we considered
Scores, streaks, completion rankings, compliance dashboards, and comparative family tracking.
Why we decided against it
Those mechanics turn shared household clarity into behavior shaping and create emotional leverage where ComingUp Today is intended to remain factual, calm, and neutral.
What we're doing instead
Responsibilities may show simple factual completion state, but ComingUp Today will not add performance scores, enforcement mechanics, sibling comparisons, or compliance tracking.
Built-in household chat platform
What we considered
General-purpose household conversations, message threads, reactions, and communication history inside ComingUp Today.
Why we decided against it
A full chat surface would duplicate tools households already use and pull ComingUp Today away from its narrower job: durable coordination context and shared visibility around what is happening.
What we're doing instead
Keep schedules, shared household context, and coordination information in ComingUp Today while everyday conversation remains in purpose-built messaging tools.
What could change our mind
A narrowly scoped communication capability would need to directly reduce coordination ambiguity without turning ComingUp Today into a general messaging platform.
Medical records and compliance workflows
What we considered
Storing medical documents or positioning ComingUp Today as a medical-compliance, care-record, or provider-facing system.
Why we decided against it
That direction would materially change the product's privacy, regulatory, security, and trust boundary beyond the schedule-awareness problem ComingUp Today is designed to solve.
What we're doing instead
Support ordinary appointment timing and household coordination context without becoming a medical record system, provider portal, or compliance platform.
