Stupid Question 157: How can I monitor how much time I spend on different activities on my computer?
You might have noticed I always have like a trillion things going on at the same time, I simply love it when time doesn’t stand still and I am in a good spin. But you need time for that, and good time management skills. So I was keen on actually analyzing how effective I am when I work, and simply see where I can save some time, and where I should spend more time. I asked this question on Twitter and several devs jumped in and said they would also love to hear what others replied.
I had Rescue Time recommended by several devs and also read a blog post written by Scott Hanselman where he gives thumb up for this program. I’ve only used it for a few days on the free account, but so far I like it. You have to spend some time (ironically) on configuration to have it set up so it accurately labels things.
I’ll give it a try for a few months and let you know what I think about it :)
Here is the link for the blog post Scott Hanselman wrote about this tool:
Productivity and Continuous Improvement - Measurement (and RescueTime) makes it happen, both Personally and at Work
Comments
Rescue Time rulez. it's my third week and it's useful to see what u spend time on. for example in the days i have meetings my productivity takes a nose dive.
I will check that one out! I probably need to upgrade to the Pro version, the free account is OK but I need some more control :) it's a shame with multitasking, I do that a lot, but it's still a fairly good tool so I wont complain (yet LOL)
I use TimeSnapper (http://timesnapper.com/) and it's brilliant.
I've been wanting to try Rescue Time as well, but I don't feel I'd get enough out of it for the cost. I did come across Grindstone though that looks intriguing (and free): http://www.epiforge.com/grindstone/
Last modified on 2013-02-22