I love this idea and have also been thinking often of similar email-based solutions. Very cool, but here's some feedback anyways.
The main problem is inevitably the syntax. It very quickly becomes too complicated, and with email you have the additional problem that you don't get instant feedback on submission.
In your case, the syntax might be simple enough to not be an issue. However, for many people (me included), it would probably still be easier, less error-prone and quicker to use a web interface with instant feedback. And since the type of person using this service is likely to be quite fast and proficient, there's little advantage to your solution over a web-based interface.
I do think there's a way to add value for users like me, though. Three things I like about email could be leveraged (more):
1. I always have email open
2. I tend to use email for quick, short messages that have more permanence than chat.
3. I tend to use email to keep track of things. For example, I don't open my billing app (Billings OSX) to see if I already sent out an invoice, of if it's due. Instead, I just search in gmail to see if I sent out the invoice, and when.
What you could add to this project to make it worthwhile to me, and I suspect many others, is the idea of partial invoices. I would send an email with one or more items, and these would then be added as items to this 'account'. Finally, I can send out an invoice with the total items by logging into your web interface, or through email.
It would greatly benefit me to send an email with something like:
"50 mins, implement login system, clientname"
It would be vastly preferable to my current approach where I load up the application, navigate to the client, and add the item, or alternatively where i add this item to my task app.
The main problem is inevitably the syntax. It very quickly becomes too complicated, and with email you have the additional problem that you don't get instant feedback on submission.
In your case, the syntax might be simple enough to not be an issue. However, for many people (me included), it would probably still be easier, less error-prone and quicker to use a web interface with instant feedback. And since the type of person using this service is likely to be quite fast and proficient, there's little advantage to your solution over a web-based interface.
I do think there's a way to add value for users like me, though. Three things I like about email could be leveraged (more): 1. I always have email open 2. I tend to use email for quick, short messages that have more permanence than chat. 3. I tend to use email to keep track of things. For example, I don't open my billing app (Billings OSX) to see if I already sent out an invoice, of if it's due. Instead, I just search in gmail to see if I sent out the invoice, and when.
What you could add to this project to make it worthwhile to me, and I suspect many others, is the idea of partial invoices. I would send an email with one or more items, and these would then be added as items to this 'account'. Finally, I can send out an invoice with the total items by logging into your web interface, or through email.
It would greatly benefit me to send an email with something like:
"50 mins, implement login system, clientname"
It would be vastly preferable to my current approach where I load up the application, navigate to the client, and add the item, or alternatively where i add this item to my task app.