How do you guys track your hours?

[Luminated]

My partner and I really want to track our hours closely. I find however that I have a hard time remember to write down or record when I get inspired and sit down to work (sometimes flashes occur at some obscure hour and I find myself up at 10pm working on a project that I couldn’t work on earlier).

I tried using some timeclock programs, but I haven’t found one that is simple and easy enough to work with quickly. I’ve seen Basecamp, but I don’t feel our workload justifies it (yet!).

So I’m curious, for those who work hourly or perhaps at least track their hours, how do you do it efficiently?

[TheDoc]

The wonderful world of Freshbooks! It’s free if you’re only using it for 3 clients, but if you just want to use it for time tracking purposes, that’s even easier.

If you are running on a Mac, you can download their little widget thing for your dashboard. My time tracking is super easy now, two steps:

1. Hit F12 (brings up dashboard)

2. Hit "start timer" on the widget

You can write notes about what you’re doing during that time, select client, project, etc. Once you’re done, hit "submit hours" and they get uploaded to your account online. They even have a free app for the iPhone for time tracking on the road (I use it when I do work on a plane or ferry, or if I go to a meeting, etc etc).

[AshtonSanders]

Honestly, I have a little calendar binder next to my keyboard, and I write down my time in there… It’s got a week on two full-size pages, so I have enough space to write time down for multiple clients…

I have recently been turned on to Freshbooks. I’m just on the free version, testing it out and haven’t downloaded the time-tracking app yet, but friend has been raving about how great it is. (If it’s anything like the Freshbooks website, I’m sure it’s awesome.)

[toplister]

Our Time Tracking process was a good one, but with http://www.hourdoc.com we suddenly found how much time and energy we had been wasting on things that could be done automatically and with much better accuracy than through manual data entry. They offer free application to companies less than 50 employees. You must Try it!

[AshtonSanders]

Although possibly useful, that was pretty straight-up spam. I wonder if they just have a Google Alerts for Fresh Books. heh.

I’m not a fan of companies that hide their pricing, though.

[angie]

I use this app https://codealike.com/, it works for teams too.
I recomend you install a time tracker that is active 24/7 so both of you don’t miss those little moments of productivity.
The app I recomended, besides keeping track of your working hours, creates charts to show you your coding patterns and when you reach high productivity levels and when you get distracted.
Hope it helps.

[John]

If you are on Windows 7 you can use sticky notes. And just right down the time when you start and are done. Since the sticky note will be right on your desktop, it should be a good reminder.

[Author]

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