u/Fit-Cup-4468

Started building because I kept procrastinating on calls (dentist, insurance, bookings). The hypothesis: if an AI could just do them for me over SMS, I'd actually get them done.

Surprising pivot 3 weeks in: the most common use case isn't phone calls. It's navigating terrible multi-step websites. People will text an agent to handle a 7-step online form faster than they'd open the tab.

Building in SMS keeps the friction near zero. No app to open, no new interface to learn. Just text a contact and the task is done.

Curious if other builders have noticed this pattern: the actual use case being different from the intended one?

built asmi because I kept putting off the same annoying tasks, calling to move a dentist appointment, canceling a subscription that required a phone call, finding a flight that fit weird constraints.

the concept: it's just a contact in your phone. you text it what needs doing and it handles the whole thing, calls, web bookings, research. sends you back a confirmation when done.

looking for people who procrastinate on this kind of stuff and want to try offloading it. happy to give access to anyone interested in testing.

I know logically that the person on the other end of the call doesn't know me, doesn't judge me, and will forget the conversation in five minutes. I know the call will probably take less than ten minutes and be completely fine.

And yet: I'll think about the call for hours before making it. I'll script what I'm going to say and then deviate from the script and get flustered. I'll avoid making the appointment for weeks because I'd have to call to make it. I've let prescriptions lapse because the refill required a call I didn't make.

It's better than it used to be. It's still a real thing.

The emotional weight of caregiving is one thing. The coordination, the scheduling, the phone calls, the paperwork, the things that would feel completely manageable if you had infinite time and energy, but compound badly when you don't.

For me right now it's: keeping track of which specialist needs a referral from which doctor before they'll see my dad, making sure prescriptions are filled before he runs out (the pharmacy calls me, not him), and managing the back-and-forth between his primary care and his cardiologist, who seem to not communicate with each other at all.

I work full-time, I'm reasonably organized, and I still have a growing pile of "life admin" tasks that keep not getting done because each one requires either calling someone during business hours or navigating a website that was clearly designed to make you give up.

Current backlog: negotiate my cable bill, call to check on a medical reimbursement from 3 months ago, find and book a plumber for something minor, compare and switch car insurance, schedule two routine appointments.

I've tried blocking time for it. I've tried a running list. The list just gets longer. Part of the issue is that most of these have to happen between 9-5 when I'm also supposed to be working.

Has anyone actually found a system that works for this? Not productivity advice generally, specifically for the stuff that requires human interaction during business hours.

Not a complaint about a specific company (okay, it was my health insurance). Just venting about the general experience of: identify yourself, navigate a phone tree ivr, hold for 20 minutes, get transferred, hold again, explain the same thing twice, get transferred again, accomplish something that should take 30 seconds, be asked to take a survey about how the call went.

What's everyone's most recent "this should not require a phone call" experience? I need to feel less alone.

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My mom is 74, lives alone about 40 minutes from me, and is mostly independent - but the coordination overhead has quietly become a significant part of my week, and I didn't notice until I actually tracked it.

Last month: two specialist appointments (scheduling, reminders, follow-up calls to get the summary), one insurance dispute that took three calls to resolve, a prescription that needed prior authorization, and a conversation with her building about a maintenance issue she couldn't navigate herself.

None of it is emotionally hard. It's just a lot of phone calls, a lot of hold music, a lot of "let me transfer you" - and it compounds.

I'm curious what it looks like for others. Is it the medical coordination? Financial stuff? Home services? Something else entirely? Trying to understand if there's a pattern or if everyone's situation is just different.

Mine currently has: schedule a rheumatology appointment (been on this list since January), call my internet provider to ask why my bill went up $20, cancel a gym membership at a gym I haven't been to since last year, and call my landlord about a leak that's honestly fine but should probably be looked at.

None of these are hard. All of them require me to call a stranger, potentially be put on hold, and have a conversation I can't script in advance. So they just... sit there.

What's on your list right now? And has anything actually helped you get through it, or do you just wait until the situation becomes genuinely urgent?