Flexible time management software

Question

I've been using RescueTime to track my productivity, it's so-so, needs a lots of setup.

What I need is a software which is flexible and web based

• I can reach it from my phone and computer.

• I can enter tasks that I'd like to achieve, and put them in a task cycle.

• I can pause or resume a task any time and keep track where I left off.

• I am notified when I reached the time limit I allocated for a task.

I can see a report any time. The report shows:

• what percentage of my time I spend on each task overall and for a time period I choose

• what is my task velocity - how long it takes to complete a task cycle.

Example

Tasks for the day (1pm - 4am), task cycle 1:

1. Read blogs / watch podcast - 2 hours

2. Do development on project X - 6 hours

3. Read book Y - 2 hours

4. Go to the gym - 3 hours

I start my day at 1pm reading blogs, and watch podcasts for one hour. I pause task 1 and keep track where I left off, i.e. this URL at this part of the video, like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHXn3Kg2IQE at 43m58s, or this URL at this section of the article. Then I make some food, eat. I resume task 1 where I left off. When the allocated two hours is up I am notified. I stop task 1 and start task 4. When I'm finished with task 4 I work on it an extra hour. This is added to task 4 for the next day. At the end of the day at 4am, I see a report that shows that I completed task 4 and task 1 for the day but completed task 2 30% and task 3 10%. I also see that on average it takes me 1,5 days to complete a whole task cycle which is more than it was 1 week ago. Also, I see that I spend about 50% of my time on task 2 overall which is good. Next day, I can again start with task 1, and I can resume where I left off, or I can choose to finish task 2 or task 3 from the previous day. Task 4 has 1 hour of completion from the previous day.

Having a fixed day is not that important, because I might do a whole cycle from task 1-4 in one day at one time, but I might complete that in 2,5 days at another time. The main point is to be able to keep track where I left off, know which task to do next, and see how much percentage of my time I spend on each task.

Is there a software like this?

Answer 1

I haven't found a software like this yet. For now, I have created an Excel spreadsheet and keep track of my time there

UPDATE After lots of googling and trying out various time tracking apps, I've found Toggl, which comes closest to the features described here. Only thing missing is tracking where I left off a task.

Answer 2

The way I have my account set up in TSheets Time Tracker isn't exactly how you have it outlined above (although my clock in-out wigit that I use from my phone and laptop are in order of importance so it is similar to your request for sequential tasks) but I was very happy with the customer support I received when I initially set up my account. I was up and running and tracking time within minutes but then had several, yet different from yours, requests to customize my account and they customized my account to exactly what I needed. I also love the reporting feature.It's worth asking if they can do the same for your special requests...

http://www.tsheets.com

Answer 3

Check out http://www.timedoctor.com/ an application that tracks effectively all of your activities in REAL TIME. This means that you have accurate data of exactly where time is spent. This gives you a reading on exactly where you spent your time, and how much of that time was productive or unproductive. It includes tracking the websites your visit and the applications you use on your computer.

It almost has all the features you are looking for from a time management software. You can try it so that you will know if it meets your needs.

Answer 4

Toodledo (www.toodledo.com) is a great personal productivity tool. It manages tasks very well and also has a timer feature built in. The timer has a start and pause button. You can use the notes section to keep track of where you were in your project.

Answer 5

Perhaps you need to think and write down your work in other ways? I use Google Calendar and it has many features such as:

1. Sending notification to your phone or tablet
2. Accessible from smart phones and basically any device that is able to open a website.
3. Tasks Manager
4. Sharing with others
5. You can categorize your activities with different colors and properties. and so on.

I'm pretty satisfied with it.