Ask HN: How do you track your work hours?

#1

Post by thinkpad13 » Sat, Mar 25, 2023, 10:49 PM UTC

Currently I use stopwatch on my desktop pc and pause it whenever I do something that is not work related like randomly reading article/reddit/hn/youtube

iirc I heard that john carmack use a cd player and pause it whenever he does not works

Re: Ask HN: How do you track your work hours?

#2

Post by blitz_skull » Sat, Mar 25, 2023, 11:23 PM UTC

Timing App: https://timingapp.com

You can use rules to auto-categorize your time which is clutch.

Re: Ask HN: How do you track your work hours?

#3

Post by radiojasper » Sat, Mar 25, 2023, 11:32 PM UTC

Toggl Track

https://track.toggl.com/timer

Re: Ask HN: How do you track your work hours?

#4

Post by eurasiantiger » Sat, Mar 25, 2023, 11:32 PM UTC

I don’t.

If I did, I would get nothing done and lose my mind in the process.

Re: Ask HN: How do you track your work hours?

#5

Post by jonas-w » Sat, Mar 25, 2023, 11:37 PM UTC

https://activitywatch.net/

Re: Ask HN: How do you track your work hours?

#6

Post by unixhero » Sat, Mar 25, 2023, 11:39 PM UTC

Kimai

Re: Ask HN: How do you track your work hours?

#7

Post by asdf691111 » Sat, Mar 25, 2023, 11:40 PM UTC

Why would I track my work hours?

Re: Ask HN: How do you track your work hours?

#8

Post by quickthrower2 » Sat, Mar 25, 2023, 11:48 PM UTC

asdf691111 wrote: post #7

Why would I track my work hours?

I think for some people tracking them for personal view only would let them check they are not working too many hours.

Re: Ask HN: How do you track your work hours?

#9

Post by sloaken » Sun, Mar 26, 2023, 12:07 AM UTC

It depends on what I am doing. I find when doing software dev, I need to take frequent breaks to let my mind rest. That is part of the time cost of doing the job. I track when I come in and when I leave with a spreadsheet. Although salary, I know if I do not use the spreadsheet I, like I have observed others, will slowly let time slip until they are not doing their full job. My office looks for me to do 80 hours in 2 weeks. Some days are 10 some are 6 depending.

I notice others who watch the clock and leave immediately after 8 hours, my day is almost never that smooth and if I am on a roll I do not want to stop as it costs me more time.

But do take your occasional breaks, it is better for your overall productivity.

Re: Ask HN: How do you track your work hours?

#10

Post by neeldhara » Sun, Mar 26, 2023, 12:14 AM UTC

I used to use the apps atimelogger (http://www.atimelogger.com/) and atracker (http://www.wonderapps.se/ATracker/home.html) for a year and two years, respectively. I tracked work and certain non-work activities (e.g, sleep and such), and it was very effective. The reports helped with awareness around relative time spent over different projects and such.

While all the tracking was manual, and I tried to do it either in real time or by the end of the day (or at best the next day), it was useful to have some automated time tracking tools for double-checking in recall. For this, I use mostly Timing (https://timingapp.com/) and location tracking on my phone.

Now I use a custom entry system in Obsidian which lets me do more fine-grained reports (e.g, by project) and also has the advantage that I have one app less to worry about. I still have Timing to help with recall though. Some people use Timing exclusively - and it does have several advanced features and a nice UI!