This kills using RescueTime for me. I don’t know how one would not consider all external production work as valuable as time spent on the computer and have line items for it. Kind of makes the whole program look like an exercise in finding the easiest way to get a monthly pay-based application going without completely looking at what it should actually deliver. This would only add an extra tracking layer as the writer points out and it’s not a few dollars: it’s $72 a year for a single user.

I don’t see thevalue as it stands.

Must have Facts (y) Basecamp’s (from 37Signals) conversion of total accounts to paid accounts is about %0.87 and higher: Guess the Value: Basecamp (Nov, 2006)…

@ Jared: I’ve never heard of TimeSnapper. I’ll start it up and get it going, especially if it has some of the enhancements that RescueTime currently lacks. Thanks for the comment, scouting, and link – I always appreciate your thoughtful replies.

@ Francis: You’re right on the money. RescueTime is nifty and beautiful but doesn’t provide the AH-HA that we need.

@ Tony: I figured that you dismissed me as a little pissant blogger that didn’t know what he was talking about :p. I agree with you wholeheartedly that measuring the problem is a critical part of solving the problem – but I worry that RescueTime isn’t giving the type of information that really illuminates the problem. I don’t really need to spend more time writing; I need to spend more time writing on this rather than that.

You guys are on the right track, and I recognize that this is a young product. I hope you all took it as constructive feedback, as I would really like to see a program like this deliver the goods. I’ll definitely stay tuned.

We have a long (and fun!) road ahead of us here– most of the feature suggestions that you mention are on the list.

FWIW, I am a firm believer that measuring a problem is a critical step to solving the problem… And sometimes it’s a sufficient step. Just the act of seeing this data tends to prompt positive change. We see an average 9% increase in productive behavior for users who use RescueTime for 2 months.

We’re certainly not going to stop there, though. As you say, it’s really not a Time Management “Solution”.

So stay tuned!

It strikes me that it falls into the bucket of applications that offer a bit of information “after the fact” but do little to help one “before the fact.” In other words, the data ise of little use from day to day, when one discovers that he/she spent 30 minutes more web-surfing than originally intended.

You run the program, you find out…. so what? It doesn’t mean that tomorrow you should do anything differently.

Also, when the phone rings and the program keeps on recording the activity, the numbers are bound to be incorrect.

I think it might be useful to see how accurately we are able to schedule our time, but it’s not a BIG ah-hah.

I wonder if the makers of the program actually use it themselves?

I use Uconomix Snaplogger which takes a simple screen every five minutes, so that when I fill in my activity logs, I can go back and see what I was doing at my computer, if I was there.

Hmm… that reminds me that I need to update my log… (I use OpenAir to track my time from week to week.)

I’m off!

Thanks for the great review.

Francis Wade’s last blog post..Time Management and Cognitive Load Theory

I’ve found that TimeSnapper’s filtering does help me to get answers about how much specific time is spent on certain projects…but in the end, I’m using this information more for productivity in answering questions about “what was I doing when…” or “how much time did I spend on that…” than actually changing my behaviors.

Such a thorough analysis you’ve got here Charlie. Great work!

Jared Goralnick’s last blog post..A quick checklist for making your email more professional