Tracking time is part and parcel of being a consultant, at least if you have multiple clients and overlapping work. After doing it for 15+ years, I've tried it all - everything from the spreadsheet, to the apps, to forgetting and having to go back and reconstruct.
I read this article and I think it's missing the point about what's so hard about time tracking.
What's hard is: Implementing the trigger on the context switch.
You're working on one thing, something happens and you make a context switch to something else - and in order to track your time, you need a trigger to fire to prompt you to record the switch. It doesn't matter if it's in a spreadsheet or an app or on a piece of paper - I find that my brain doesn't fire that trigger very reliably. Especially if I'm busy.
If someone can solve that problem with a fancy app, I'd be impressed!
I've said it in another thread [1]: I want a robot that watches me and quietly makes intelligent decisions about what I'm really doing, and tracks that.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15790918
I read this article and I think it's missing the point about what's so hard about time tracking.
What's hard is: Implementing the trigger on the context switch.
You're working on one thing, something happens and you make a context switch to something else - and in order to track your time, you need a trigger to fire to prompt you to record the switch. It doesn't matter if it's in a spreadsheet or an app or on a piece of paper - I find that my brain doesn't fire that trigger very reliably. Especially if I'm busy.
If someone can solve that problem with a fancy app, I'd be impressed!
I've said it in another thread [1]: I want a robot that watches me and quietly makes intelligent decisions about what I'm really doing, and tracks that.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15790918