How to track who owes what in a group project with Nirvaana

The real worry

Group projects rarely fail because the work is too hard. They fail because of fuzzy promises. "I'll do the intro." "I'll look at the data this weekend." "Someone should email the professor." Nobody writes it down, everyone remembers it differently, and on the night before the deadline you find out two people did the same slide and nobody did the references.

You are also carrying your own classes. Keeping the whole project in your head on top of that is a lot.

The fix is not a bigger spreadsheet. It is a clear record of who owes what by when, kept in view for you.

Promises, in both directions

In Nirvaana, a promise is something you owe someone, or something they owe you, with a date if one was said. You tell Nirvaana in your own words, as you would text a friend. It keeps each promise in view until it is done, and it remembers the ones people made to you.

Today shows what you owe and what you're owed. For a group project, that second half is the useful part. You can see at a glance what you are waiting on from teammates.

A shared world for the project

A world is one part of your life with the people in it: a class, a club, a team. A project group is a team.

Make a world for the project and send it to your teammates. It is shared only with its people. Your own world stays yours alone, and nothing from it goes into the shared world until you press Approve. So the group sees the plan you approved, and does not see your other classes or private notes.

A day with Nirvaana

Here is an example, not a real user story. Say you're Maya, in a four-person team for a marketing course. The final presentation is in three weeks.

Friday afternoon: the kickoff

After your first meeting, you tell Nirvaana: "Jordan is doing the market research by the 25th. Dev is building the slides starting the 28th. Sam handles the survey. I'm writing the summary by the 30th."

Each one is now a promise with a name and a date. You press Approve on the project plan, and your teammates see the same plan in the shared world.

Monday, 8:00 am: Catch me up

You type "Catch me up." Nirvaana tells you what is due, the late things first. Your own coursework and the project show up together, so you can decide what to do first. If you have connected Canvas, each class you take comes in on its own, with its files, facts and due dates. Nirvaana only reads Canvas.

Thursday: a promise slips

Jordan said the research would be done by the 25th, and it is the 26th. You see it sitting there as something you're owed. You send Jordan a friendly message yourself. Nirvaana does not send for you without your yes. When Jordan delivers, you tell Nirvaana, and the promise is marked done.

Sunday night: a new promise

At the group call, Sam says they will do two extra survey questions by Tuesday. You add it in a sentence. Nobody has to scroll up through a chat to find it later.

The night before

You type "Catch me up" one more time. Everything open is in one list, with names and dates. No surprises, and no one is quietly hoping the others will not notice.

Why this works for groups

• Promises have a person and a date, not a vague "someone should."
• Both directions are visible: what you owe and what you're owed.
• Each person approves what they put into the shared world, so nobody feels exposed or overruled.
• You do not need everyone to adopt a heavy tool. You can use Nirvaana for your side, and the shared world holds what the group agrees to put there.

Fairness, kindly

Tracking who owes what can feel like keeping score. It does not have to be. The goal is to make the load visible early, while it is easy to rebalance. If someone is overloaded, you can see it on day five instead of day twenty.

What it won't do

• It only reads Canvas. It does not post to it or change anything there.
• It is built to stop before it sends, posts, pays, signs or deletes, and hand the step to you.
• That check is automatic and not perfect, so look over anything important.
• It will not do the project for you or decide who deserves credit. It keeps track so the people can talk about it.
• It is one agent for one person. Each teammate uses their own, and the shared world is where those meet.

What stays private

• Your own world is yours alone.
• A shared world is shared only with its people, and nothing from your own world goes in until you press Approve.
• We do not train on your world. We sell nothing and share nothing for advertising.
• You can download your world, or delete your account, from Settings.

Where to start

1. Download Nirvaana for Mac, sign in, and connect the AI you already pay for: ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. No plan? Google's free Gemini works with a Google account, and the app sets it up during the first run. Windows and iPhone versions are coming soon.
2. Make a world for the project and send it to your team.
3. After the first meeting, tell Nirvaana who promised what by when.

If your group also meets to study, Nirvaana for study groups covers what each person shares and keeps. For the solo side of deadlines, see how to stop forgetting assignments.

Nirvaana is for people 18 and older, and it is available in the US for now.