Sometimes I have mixed thoughts about spending all day with computer. I know what I have done that day, but I know I could do that in a more productive way.
Time is passing in a tricky way while you are sitting in a front of a screen. Sometimes tasks categorized as "easy" took only 15 minutes, other time its 3 hours, and you feel only "small" difference between both cases. Other issue is actual context of task that includes communication, looking for references, research etc. Many times work ends on reading "more interesting" site or blog.
Here is an automated time tracking software from Y Combinator startup named RescueTime. It makes possible "Effortless Time Tracking" under Mac, Windows and thanks to "an enterprising Linux fan" for Linux. It automatically tracks time for every application, web address and gives reports by applications, categories, and user defined tags.
Cons: I see only one- development team still works on recognizing java applications. Now all Eclipse and java applications are seen as Java. Something about privacy and tracking web addresses: you can define white/black list for web addresses, and daily hours of tracking (for example since 8:00 till 16:00). Urls are also truncated to not track irrelevant data. So software can be properly configured and used in "a safe" way.
The graphical reports give very informative strategical overview of time usage. You can also set your time management goals and track your success. They also have business plan that enables team activity tracking and comparing results.
Now I'm going to check share of my time wasters.
Time is passing in a tricky way while you are sitting in a front of a screen. Sometimes tasks categorized as "easy" took only 15 minutes, other time its 3 hours, and you feel only "small" difference between both cases. Other issue is actual context of task that includes communication, looking for references, research etc. Many times work ends on reading "more interesting" site or blog.
Here is an automated time tracking software from Y Combinator startup named RescueTime. It makes possible "Effortless Time Tracking" under Mac, Windows and thanks to "an enterprising Linux fan" for Linux. It automatically tracks time for every application, web address and gives reports by applications, categories, and user defined tags.
Cons: I see only one- development team still works on recognizing java applications. Now all Eclipse and java applications are seen as Java. Something about privacy and tracking web addresses: you can define white/black list for web addresses, and daily hours of tracking (for example since 8:00 till 16:00). Urls are also truncated to not track irrelevant data. So software can be properly configured and used in "a safe" way.
The graphical reports give very informative strategical overview of time usage. You can also set your time management goals and track your success. They also have business plan that enables team activity tracking and comparing results.
Now I'm going to check share of my time wasters.
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