How do you time track?
Brandon Checketts has a question, one frankly I am not equipped to answer since I don’t do projects based on time and also I am not a software developer like many of our readers. Hopefully the community can provide the input and help Brandon out.
I’ve just quit a full time job to do freelance work. I’ve been doing it for about a month now and enjoying it tons. However, I’m often in the middle of 3 or 4 projects, and am having a difficult time tracking where my time is being spent. I’m wondering what time-tracking software, applications, or methods others are using.
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Here’s a number of great, free resources:
FREE:
http://www.myhours.com (this is the one I use currently)
http://www.1time.ie/
http://www.sidejobtrack.com/
LOW MONTHLY:
http://www.formassembly.com/time-tracker/
http://www.slimtimer.com/
http://www.freshbooks.com/
http://www.14dayz.com/site/
http://www.getharvest.com/
http://freshbooks.com
Timeless Time & Expense (for Windows)
For many, many years, I have used Timeless Time and Expense personal edition. It runs while I work and shows up as a tray icon. It’s quick and easy to use. Just right click on it to switch to a different task or to pause/resume.
There are a lot of great solutions out there.
Tick (www.tickspot.com)
SlimTimer (www.slimtimer.com)
Harvest (www.getharvest.com)
88 Miles (www.88miles.net)
Of course there are many others as well… I personally prefer Tick – but I’m completely biased ;-)
Best advice I can give you is to take a few minutes and try them all out. I’m sure there is one that will fit your needs.
I use Basecamp to manage all my projects. It rocks. The time tracking tool is pretty sweet. You can track by person and by project.
Check it out. And use the link below, I get a referal credit.
Sign Up For Basecamp
For those who prefer to simply click…
Tick ()
SlimTimer ()
Harvest ()
88 Miles ()
If you’re using a mac, check out:
http://www.stuntsoftware.com/OnTheJob/
Check out http://davidseah.com/archives/2005/09/23/the-printable-ceo/
He also has a Flash based program that will hep you track time in 15 minute chunks.
HTH
–
Parag
Thanks for recommending FreshBooks Gary :)
Just figured I’d point out that we are mid way through a redesign of FreshBooks’ time tracking service and have some pretty interesting things in store…especially for all you freelancers out there. It’s going to allow you to collaborate on work in a federated way…so you don’t have to worry about constantly logging into other people’s account to track time and progress on the projects you work on. Giddy-up.