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Track All Your Wasted Time

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For a while now, I’ve wanted a super-simple time tracking facility to track the various ways I throw my life away. Something where I can just add tasks, then hit a button to start and stop a timer, adding a comment when finished. A very short search unearthed Time Tracker, which provides exactly that. It’s also great if you’re doing consulting, working on different projects for different clients. And you can export your work log in XML or Excel (CSV). I hoping it will really motivate me, seeing just how little time I spend on the important things, like disco dancing, archery, and rape.

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8 thoughts on “Track All Your Wasted Time”

  1. Sounds handy… However, after visiting their website I deduced that they keep the data in a central server. Their disclaimer mentioned that they would not use/sell the data to third parties. So my data is being stored somewhere, it seems.

    If you are using the tool to keep track of your work tasks (ie: PROPRIETARY STUFF) then this application would not be for you. I would not want to reveal my plans for conquering the business world (eg: spent 15 minutes polishing the lead-to-gold transmuter) at their private database.

    I suppose you could use secret keywords to hide your real intentions (eg: spent 30 minutes debugging my *balls* prior to milestone *ejaculation*) but it could get embarrasing.

  3. Hmm. Instead of “polishing the lead-to-gold transmuter” and “debugging my *balls*”, I’d just change that to “polishing my balls”. Security is important and all, but not when you risk people thinking you have buggy balls. And taking in Masterchief’s suggestion, 15 minutes is a reasonable amount of time to spend ball-polishing. I don’t think practice will speed that up. Nobody wants a rush job there.

    There are a few time trackers on sourceforge.net that you can run on your PC, but the few I saw just miss the mark – surprising, since I thought my needs were so simple! I guess it just shows how we differ in even the simplest things. Or maybe that this is such a trivial program, nobody wants to spend much time coding it. Just a learning exercise.

  4. Being the Crack Team’s reluctantly elected spokesman for lazyness, I note how much work it would be to actually track things whch I probably don’t want to do in the first place which would mean MORE work for me. This would require another tracker to track my time using the tracker.

    And now,

    A nap.

  5. Well, it is high time for my plug.

    Coming soon……… to the Crack Team Website !!!!

    I am using a tool which is part of the “uman” system running on the server. It allows me to quickly add user-identifiable, time-stamped comments to a flat file. I then use an awk application to give me a breakdown of task duration and category report.

    Unfortunately, I have to add my own category to the comment.

    Unfortunately, I have to add my own time durations, although this is easily available from the data.

    Fortunately, I am in the process of updating this tool for all of us to use.

    Fortunately, it is open source. Stay tuned for update.

  7. Yeah, sounds like a good idea. Not sure I like the idea of it being stored anywhere else than my HD. At the same time, I wonder if those records could be called up for an unexpected audit, like an eye-witness to your business whereabouts. Could be useful. Or incriminating. That’s why it’s probably best to always inject small, charitable deeds into your workflow.

    Monday, April 16

    2pm – Woke up

    4pm – Ate breakfast

    5pm – Took a shower

    6pm – Rescued a spider

    8pm – Filed for Tax Extension

    Or you could just write down your time-tracking on post it notes. Then input them all in at the end of the day.

  8. Pingback: The Crack Team · Seinfeld’s Productivity Booster

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