Why do I need to choose a start or an end time?
Brili needs to know which is most important so it can prompt and reward according to your goal (get everything done by a deadline vs just get everything done)
Why can’t I set both start and end times?
Brili needs you to set durations on activities within the routine that may or may not fit between arbitrarily-set start and end times. It’s easier for you (less math) and Brili (no need to throw errors if you add a task that doesn’t fit). You just pick the time that’s most important and let Brili automatically recalculate the other one as you create and adjust tasks. Brili’s math skills are hard to beat.
What’s different when I set an end time?
Brili does its best to get your child to finish all activities by that end time (e.g. "leave to catch the school bus"). If they start the routine early or complete activities faster than you estimated, they bank extra minutes and seconds for a desirable activity that can be labelled with anything the child likes to do. That “earned time” gets a countdown timer too so your child knows when it’s done. If they start the routine late or run over time with the activities, the timers for all subsequent activities in the routine are proportionally compressed (their time is shortened) so they still are given time to complete each task before the end time.
When the end time is important, Brili calculates your start time based on the number of activities and their durations. Changing the end time and nothing else would automatically change the start time by the same amount.
What’s different when I set a start time?
Brili treats the routine as “open ended”, so the routine can run indefinitely after it’s started. There is no reward for completing activities faster than estimated, and tasks don’t get shortened to end by a particular time. This type of routine is commonly used after school, when the return from school time is typically known, but dinner time can vary.
When the start time is important, Brili calculates your end time based on the number of activities and their durations. Changing the start time and nothing else would automatically change the end time by the same amount.
Why is my start time changing even if I didn’t change the routine settings?
Your routine is scheduled to an end time and you’ve added/removed/changed activities within the routine to change its total duration. The start time is recalculating to give your child just enough time to complete all the activities.
Why is my end time changing even if I didn’t change the routine settings?
Your routine is scheduled from a start time and you’ve added/removed/changed activities within the routine to change its total duration. The end time is recalculating to give your child just enough time to complete all the activities.
Brili recalculates the start time when you make changes to activities and their durations.
Why do my routine times change on their own?
If you used pick another routine to start the routine, it will, for this instance only, calculate a new end time for the routine by using the present time and adding the sum of all activities to it. This is what we call Ad Hoc mode so you can run any routine at any time without worrying about your child feeling rushed (or conversely, with insufficient motivation to keep up the pace.)
Why did my child get less time for his routine today compared to yesterday?
Did you notice what time he started the routine? If he started it later on day 2 than on day 1, he'd have less time before the set routine time because the routine stretches and shrinks to fit in all the activities before the routine end time, ideally adding earned reward time, too.
I chose an activity as a reward and I couldn't tell how much time my child was given to do that, nor could I designate the amount of time. Shouldn't I be able to give the reward time that I choose?
When routines must end by a particular time, Brili automatically manages earned reward time. Routine start times are calculated to provide a small amount of earned reward time (about 5 minutes, if started right when the notification is received) and your child earns extra time by completing activities more quickly than the times you set on the activity timers. Every minute and second that is saved gets added to the reward time. Conversely, when activities run longer than you planned, the first thing that disappears is any earned reward time. When that's all gone, subsequent activities are proportionately shortened to ensure there is some time to do all of them before the routine end time.
When kids complete activities during routines in less time than the timers you set, they get to keep those minutes free (reward) time.
Note: When it's important that you have control over specific reward time, you can still do this by adding an activity to the routine and turning it into a reward by setting its star value to zero (the trophy icon).