He seems to put a lot of effort into putting exactly the number of hours into the full job and exactly the number of hours into each project he wants. I don't really consider that valuable, though, and think he is kind of wasting time. At least he made some pretty graphs, though, and got some self gratification for hitting his hourly target exactly. Doesn't really have any meaning re how much actual work he got done, though.
10 Months at Harvard, Quantified
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Re: 10 Months at Harvard, Quantified
#12See Nicholas Felton's work for a more design-oriented approach to personal-statistics. He has an extensive report for most years since 2005.
Re: 10 Months at Harvard, Quantified
#13I have been using the free version of Manic Time (http://www.manictime.com/) and it works quite well, as it's quite unobtrusive and doesn't need any input from me.
Lifehacker.com has a list of other alternatives too - http://lifehacker.com/5853163/the-best-time-tracking-app-for...
Re: 10 Months at Harvard, Quantified
#14Stephen Wolfram has been doing this for a while - the data is really interesting over the larger timescale: http://blog.stephenwolfram.com/2012/03/the-personal-analytic...
thanks for sharing
Re: 10 Months at Harvard, Quantified
#15I started doing something similar to help me with my work as a freelancer. My approach involves scheduled popups with questions that are really quick to answer. Right now I'm only asking myself "are you being productive?". I just put it on github an hour ago: https://github.com/bbonf/productive It's probably too raw to be helpful to others, but I plan to improve it soon.
I put something like this on my to-do list a couple of years ago, but haven't made it to that project line item yet :-(.
Thank you for sharing what you do have, even if it's rough!
RE: "You may have to install PyQt4." - Yes. When I './run.sh', I received...
| Traceback (most recent call last):
| File "main.py", line 4, in
| from PyQt4 import QtGui, QtCore
| ImportError: No module named PyQt4
Re: 10 Months at Harvard, Quantified
#16As a freelancer I too have found it both helpful and interesting from a data perspective to track my time in a detailed way. I've been using Excel for years, plus an independent (from Excel) calendaring system to block off target periods for specific projects.
From the usefulness perspective, tracking my time allows me to a) objectively see where I'm slacking off or rockin' it. Perception can be skewed without the objective tracking; b) view my effectiveness, but only because of how I use my tracking system. If I'm not being effective, I don't enter time for that period. But inspired by OP, I'm going to add an effectiveness metric to my tracking system, and possibly include what my distractors are; c) have a built-in reporting system to my clients, if I need to track hours vs. job for invoicing; d) gain a better sense of how much any given job will take me in advance. This sense has improved dramatically by reviewing my time tracking-data longitudinally.
Thanks for sharing, OP. And thanks to the rest of you who posted your own systems and links to other ones.
Re: 10 Months at Harvard, Quantified
#17"I must admit to feeling some hesitation before writing this post, as I fear it may come across as self-indulgent. My motivation in writing it was to communicate how useful self quantification can be. It is a lifestyle change that I believe some can benefit from, and one that can reduce the chronic stress from which far too many of us suffer." It seems more interesting than useful. Lots of analysis, not much benefit.…
"but it's fairly representative in that it's something of a goal within the system rather than an external benefit."
But if the system allows us to achieve some desirable goal, why would it need to have any external benefit by itself, besides helping you to attain the goal?
Re: 10 Months at Harvard, Quantified
#18There are so many variables in quantifying oneself that I have given up many times. It becomes a chore after a while.
Re: 10 Months at Harvard, Quantified
#19At first I was really excited when I saw this post. Then it almost depressed me. To quantify my life based on how "productive" I am at working. I'd prefer to have the reverse, to quantify my leisure at the minute-ly level. Imagine looking at these charts when you're on your death bed. Will you regret that you didn't work as hard as you could have? I don't think I will. Of all the "what I regret most about life" posts I've seen on the internet, I've yet to see someone say "I wish I spent more time working".
Re: 10 Months at Harvard, Quantified
#20There are so many variables in quantifying oneself that I have given up many times. It becomes a chore after a while.
That's why it's important to use automated variables as much as possible, so one isn't bearing the burden. Any number of variables can be tracked automatically, it's the ones you have to do manually which become a chore and burn you out. My Zeo sleep data will never be a chore because all I have to do is put on the headband before I go to sleep which has long since become an automatic habit, while writing down my weight on an index card would become a serious irritant if I had to do 5 or 6 of them.