Time tracking
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anyone uses time tracking tools on how they spend the day and tweak accordingly if needed?
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No, but if I did,... oh my...
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Yes, I use Rescue Time. It's pretty amazing and the Pro version lets you see granular reports all the way down to what code FILES you spent your time in. Highly recommend it.
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@creayt Is it not something like you are sending all your browsing/app usage behavior to a third party?
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We will be moving to Harvest tracking in conjunction with Xero for accounting. Harvest is great from desktop to cell phone so awesome to use all the time.
I personally use a combination of Harvest and DayOne (on my MacBook) it's a great way to keep track of what I am doing day to day.
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I also know that many of my team use OneNote as a journal of sorts.
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http://www.officetime.net/ seems like a good option too. One time fee, Works offline. Need to try this and another option is http://www.manictime.com/
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Breakdown of time:
Browsing Mangolassi: 30%
Coffee making: 10%
Discussing recent football match: 10%
Meaningless Management Meeting: 20%
IT Development: 5%
Recording Time on Time Tracking Software: 5%
General Daydreaming: 10%
Googling IT facts completely unrelated to job in order to win argument on Spiceworks: 5%
Walking to server room to carry out important task and then forgetting what task actually was: 5%
Returning to server room after you finally remembered what important task was: 5% -
@Carnival-Boy said:
Breakdown of time:
Browsing Mangolassi: 30%
Coffee making: 10%
Discussing recent football match: 10%
Meaningless Management Meeting: 20%
IT Development: 5%
Recording Time on Time Tracking Software: 5%
General Daydreaming: 10%
Googling IT facts completely unrelated to job in order to win argument on Spiceworks: 5%
Walking to server room to carry out important task and then forgetting what task actually was: 5%
Returning to server room after you finally remembered what important task was: 5%+/- 5% on each task per day.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
Googling IT facts completely unrelated to job in order to win argument on Spiceworks: 5%
This is the BEST!
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@Ambarishrh said:
@creayt Is it not something like you are sending all your browsing/app usage behavior to a third party?
I'm not sure I understand what you mean, but there is a client you install that uses the OS APIs to track what you do passively in the background, and then stream it to the company that makes Rescue Time's servers so it's in the cloud and you can run reports on it. I imagine this is how most professional-level time tracking tools work.
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+1 for Harvest.
I love being able to send online payable invoices, create detailed reports on what my time was spent on, and manage stuff like retainers/discounts as needed. The time tracker is great too, it's really nice to be able to use their app to start timers, track invoices, and all that good stuff. Lastly, I use Google Apps for Work which it easily integrates into.
Right now my freelance business is a one man shop, but I appreciate the fact that I can keep using Harvest if and when I take on employees.
I use it to track actual projects as well as side projects so I have an accurate idea of how long it would take me to recreate them for clients.
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@creayt What I meant was, all your activities are getting recorded at Rescue Time's servers. Found 2 tools which I mentioned on this thread, and was testing ManicTime on my machine today. I do get a report of all activities done on my machine, but then all those reports stays on my machine rather than uploading it to a third party. They also have a server version, bit expensive, for managing a team.
The time tracking I am looking at now is for analyzing my personal usage. When it comes to timesheets for clients to bill, I still use Freshbooks.
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@Ambarishrh said:
@creayt What I meant was, all your activities are getting recorded at Rescue Time's servers. Found 2 tools which I mentioned on this thread, and was testing ManicTime on my machine today. I do get a report of all activities done on my machine, but then all those reports stays on my machine rather than uploading it to a third party. They also have a server version, bit expensive, for managing a team.
The time tracking I am looking at now is for analyzing my personal usage. When it comes to timesheets for clients to bill, I still use Freshbooks.
Good point. I agree, it's a huge advantage that RescueTime keeps your data on its servers so that even if your workstation fails you don't lose X years of back logs and reporting.
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@creayt That issue of losing data is covered mostly by all tools by default I guess. Manictime which I am evaluating now, has a backup restore option, and also a scheduled backup function. I can schedule the backup to go to my dropbox/One Drive or even an external hard drive if uploading to a third party an issue.
End of the day, its every users choice, which I understand, but was not in the side of moving all my browsing history & work details to a third party server. I am kind of a person who would love to look at a self hosted option first for anything.
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@Ambarishrh said:
@creayt That issue of losing data is covered mostly by all tools by default I guess. Manictime which I am evaluating now, has a backup restore option, and also a scheduled backup function. I can schedule the backup to go to my dropbox/One Drive or even an external hard drive if uploading to a third party an issue.
End of the day, its every users choice, which I understand, but was not in the side of moving all my browsing history & work details to a third party server. I am kind of a person who would love to look at a self hosted option first for anything.
I see. The slang term for that is a "privacy fiend"
For what it's worth, RescueTime lets you configure it on a schedule so it ignores everything say, outside of work hours.
