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Ask HN: Do you log your time at work?

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Ask HN: Do you log your time at work?

#1

Post by agateau »

At work we are required to log time spent on each JIRA task. I can see the value of it: it makes us better at estimating tasks, but it's quite a burden to do.

Some colleagues log time at a macro level: at the end of the day they enter what they did, based on what they remember. I believe this way of logging is not precise enough though because you can easily overlook time you spent on some tasks. For example I do a lot of reviews: there is no way I can remember at the end of the day how long I spent reviewing each pull request. So I track my time as I go, using Toggl. At the end of the day I sum up time spent on all tasks and enter them in JIRA. That's annoying to do, as I end up logging time slices of 20, 10 or even 5mn (some reviews take short amount of times, others requires more).

Do you log time at work? If you do, do you do it at a macro level or do you try to be more precise? Do you use any tool to help you?

Re: Ask HN: Do you log your time at work?

#3

Post by bendixso »

I do. I try to focus on improving my estimates. I find that some things work better when lumped into a general category like "Code Review" while you can be more specific with other things, for example a particular feature or user story.

You have to ask yourself, what value would you get from estimating that a code review will take 10, 20 minutes? Is that kind of information particularly useful for forecasting? I would guess it isn't because it seems too granular. Nobody I know sits down and plans a series or 10 or 20 minute code review sessions. They usually plan out bigger blocks of work.

I use a tool called Track - Simple Time Tracking and Invoicing (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/track-simple-time-tracking/i...)

Full disclosure, I built Track and I own the company that sells it.

I built Track because I wanted a cleanly designed time tracking tool that syncs my data between devices and doesn't make me sign up for an account. It's iOS-only. It works on the iPhone and iPad.

So yeah, I use the tool that I built. I use it every day while I'm working on my client projects.

Re: Ask HN: Do you log your time at work?

#5

Post by agateau »

bendixso wrote: post #3

I do. I try to focus on improving my estimates. I find that some things work better when lumped into a general category like "Code Review" while you can be more specific with other things, for example a particular feature or user story. You have to ask yourself, what value would you get from estimating that a code review will take 10, 20 minutes? Is that kind of information particularly useful for forecasting? I woul…

The thing is, we often have tasks estimated to last 2 or 3 hours. 10 or 20 minutes of review starts to be a significant duration in this case.

Re: Ask HN: Do you log your time at work?

#6

Post by agateau »

welder wrote: post #2

I use https://wakatime.com for this. I use a Git branch for each feature/Jira ticket and at the end of the day WakaTime tells me how long I coded in each branch.

Looks interesting, can it distinguish time spent in the browser, so one would know if time was spent on pull request #33 rather than on Twitter?

Re: Ask HN: Do you log your time at work?

#7

Post by bendixso »

agateau wrote: post #5
bendixso wrote: post #3

I do. I try to focus on improving my estimates. I find that some things work better when lumped into a general category like "Code Review" while you can be more specific with other things, for example a particular feature or user story. You have to ask yourself, what value would you get from estimating that a code review will take 10, 20 minutes? Is that kind of information particularly useful for forecasting? I woul…

The thing is, we often have tasks estimated to last 2 or 3 hours. 10 or 20 minutes of review starts to be a significant duration in this case.

Yeah, so in that case I think it would make sense to tie each code review session to the feature/story you are reviewing. Maybe that's what you were already doing. I'm not sure.

Re: Ask HN: Do you log your time at work?

#8

Post by agateau »

bendixso wrote: post #7
agateau wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is, we often have tasks estimated to last 2 or 3 hours. 10 or 20 minutes of review starts to be a significant duration in this case.

Yeah, so in that case I think it would make sense to tie each code review session to the feature/story you are reviewing. Maybe that's what you were already doing. I'm not sure.

Yes, we consider a task to be done when code has been reviewed and merged, so our estimates include review time.

Re: Ask HN: Do you log your time at work?

#9

Post by imranq »

I like this app: ATracker PRO - Daily Task and Time Tracking by WonderApps AB https://appsto.re/us/Ab-9E.i

You set up some tags and tap on them to start the timer. For example I track things like meeting times or time spent in code review. Also generates reports and gives you JSON to write custom apps with.

By the way, I don't have any affiliation with the app or company, I just think it's a well designed app

Re: Ask HN: Do you log your time at work?

#10

Post by hugodahl »

I use RescueTime (https://www.rescuetime.com/ref/386085) (disclaimer: referral link but I am an active and paying user) which can track time based on open/active/focussed app, per-site productivity tracking based on your settings, open API, mobile and offline tracking, focussed mode (block all distracting sites), integrations and much more.

I've been a paying customer for over 5years, and well worth EVERY penny!

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