I blame my university years for my procrastination curse.
Not that anything (much) was wrong with my academic studies, but the whole mentality of (greek) university oozes procrastination: most of the time, there’s not an everyday reason for you to do stuff. There were projects and exercises, yes, but those could be easily (?) tackled the last two or three days of the deadline. Or not.
Since I’m trying hard to face this aspect of myself, I’ve given a chance to time tracking software. I found that I focus more easily on a task if there’s a visible timer around the screen, ticking away, measuring my attention time. Believe it or not!
My first try was something in the lines of Billings and On The Job for Mac OS X. They’re clearly an overkill since I don’t use the invoicing features for my personal projects (or maybe I should) but I like the fact that I can set timers for tasks and group them into projects. But I’m still on the lookout for a better, more effective, less bloated solution.
So my questions are: Do you use some kind of time tracking device or application? Is it online or offline? Digital or analog?
Do share your experience in the comments.
12 comments on this post
Gra #1
04.May.09
Hi,
I’ve been using http://www.paymo.biz/ with the desktop timer. It does have invoicing but it’s pretty clean. I do forget to start it sometimes though !
Sugar #2
04.May.09
Thanks for the tip! I’ll try it out and post my findings
niko #3
04.May.09
not a designer but try this one
http://www.kedisoft.com
George #4
04.May.09
I’ve tried almost every time tracking app on the planet including billings and basecamp. Nothing really worked.
For the last 4 months I’m using the simplest system : a pen and a paper with “bubbles”. I know that I should be ashamed for using such a low-tech solution, but I like it!
Templates here:
http://davidseah.com/blog/comments/emergent-task-timer-updates/
John #5
04.May.09
Also check out Intervals, a web-based time tracking tool built by a web design and development agency.
stelios #6
04.May.09
for the love of me I cannot help but procrastinate. Its in my nature. can’t fight it. either gr or uk. doesn’t matter. I’m hopeless. somebody help me!
Rune #7
04.May.09
Hi Zaharenia,
I know far too well what you mean about procrastinating from my own university studies, heh. Nowadays I’m working for a software company which has developed a simple and intuitive time tracking application called OfficeTime. Judging from your description it sounds like it might just be the tool you’re looking for.
We have a 21 day free trial, and if you decide to purchase, a single license will cover both your Mac and PC.
You can download here: http://www.officetime.net/download.html
If you would like to read about other users and their experience with OfficeTime, then it has overwhelmingly positive comments on VersionTracker and MacUpdate:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/26320
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/16795
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Rune – OfficeTime Support
Time Tracking #8
04.May.09
ontopic: Zaharenia, my advice is to try out as many systems as you can, there’s no perfect universal solution.
offtopic: I love the fact that as soon as a real user of Paymo makes a comment on a website by our service the competition starts advertising their solution. Guys, a piece of advice – make your customers happy and they’ll mention your service. It will save you a lot of work and it’s more credible.
Chris Georgakopoulos #9
04.May.09
Have a look: slimtimer.com
I’ve also tried Harvest.
(I’m trying to keep things as simple as possible)
Karen #10
04.May.09
Hi Sugar,
I use fanurio ttp://www.fanuriotimetracking.com for time tracking. Fanurio has a few reminders to help you start, resume or stop the timer. It also has idle time detection and it can be used on Windows, Mac and Linux.
klou #11
04.May.09
“Kalimera” Zaharenia
Online time tracking: http://slimtimer.com/
Very simple application and it just tracks time.
An other Desktop App that i am exploring right now is “The hit list” http://www.potionfactory.com/thehitlist/.
It’s more of a powerful to-do list, but with time tracking feature build in.
gterez #12
04.May.09
Wow, this seems to be a topic that generates a lot of feedback
I’ve tried a lot of these systems, battling with my own procrastination tendencies, and I’ve ended up using Tempo which has 3 things I love:
1. Uses tags instead of tasks, so no need to break down pojects into tasks beforehand.
2. Uses a “command line” interface that’s really fast for updates (e.g. fixing javascript bugs #bigproject @development @debugging @js) so no need to fumble through selection boxes, but complements it with just the right GUI tools (e.g. I can click a button and restart any previous task of the day)
3. It supports smart auto timers (based on the time I enter each command) but I can also enter specific times afterwards, for tasks I forgot to start the timer for (or adjust times for existing entries).
My biggest gripes: I can’t enter time for past dates, and I often keep timers running when i shut down the computer since I use the dashboard widget which is not always visible (I’d prefer a menu bar icon).