How do you keep track of time developing?
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Topic: How do you keep track of time developing?
Posted By: gargoyle
Subject: How do you keep track of time developing?
Date Posted: 21 December 2004 at 9:11pm
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How do you keep track of time developing? I need to track the time I spend developing and maintaining a web site. I would like it to be automatic if possible. Example : It ask for a list of files to track. It ask for a user name to track. I would like something this. So you know of kind of program that might fill my needs? ------------- SeeYa |
Replies:
Posted By: MadDog
Date Posted: 22 December 2004 at 1:00am
Its called a clock and reading the time 
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Posted By: dpyers
Date Posted: 23 December 2004 at 8:29pm
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You might try setting up a different user account for each development effort and checking the logs to see if it records the user login/logout time. ------------- 
Lead me not into temptation... I know the short cut, follow me. |
Posted By: xeerex
Date Posted: 24 December 2004 at 1:03am
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Got to agree with MadDog on this one. Unless you are going to jack
around with something like MS Project, then the watch and some database
of notes is the way to go for me. When I'm working on a web site, I rarely work on just 1 or 2 pages. I have a set of goals that I try to accomplish. If I'm on an hourly deal (or just trying to gauge my time), then I make a note of when I start, what I do, and when I finish. Then I record that information in my client's files or wherever. There are probably better ways to do this with software, but I haven't found anything yet that actually "saves" me time. Most of them actually cost me more time trying to work with the app to track the time. ------------- http://webspacegeeks.com - Need Hosting, Domains, Dedicated Servers? http://www.smartergeek.com - web design | pc support | training | podcasts | video production |
Posted By: dpyers
Date Posted: 24 December 2004 at 10:58am
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Agree.
There's automated things that can track the time a given user is logged in, but not all development time is spent on a pc and even then, you're pobably jumping around anyway.
I keep a little 3x7 ruled expenses notebook for tracking time spent on projects. A few pages allotted for each project. Makes it easy to do monthly summaries and to track time spent on things like client meetings, sketching out layouts, etc.
EDIT: A couple of my cohorts use palm pilot/blackberry apps for tracking time. They have some features for uploading data to their pc's. -------------
Lead me not into temptation... I know the short cut, follow me. |
Posted By: xeerex
Date Posted: 24 December 2004 at 12:56pm
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Another suggestion that is not too time consuming is to use a
calendaring app such as Mozilla's calendar or Sunbird (still in beta)
or even MS Outlook. Start a task, do you goals, and then stop the task.
You can then look back later and see where you time was being spent. My
problem has always been remembering to start or stop the task. I suppose you could also write a fairly easy database app in Access or MySQL to track this as well. Then if you ever wanted to really manipulate the data, it would be a little easier to deal with. I still think that a watch and notepad is easier. Maybe at the end of the day (or weekly) then input that data into a database or app or spreadsheet. ------------- http://webspacegeeks.com - Need Hosting, Domains, Dedicated Servers? http://www.smartergeek.com - web design | pc support | training | podcasts | video production |