3 ms·

Great article. I have been doing the same for the last two years or so. I use Qbserve [1], a native (privacy-focused) time tracker for macOS developed by a cou

Great article. I have been doing the same for the last two years or so. I use Qbserve [1], a native (privacy-focused) time tracker for macOS developed by a couple living in Chile. The application keeps all the information on my computer in an SQLite database, making it very easy to analyze. I regularly reference it during my quarterly performance reviews to justify ups-and-downs in my results. I will use this article as inspiration for writing a blog post sometime. Coincidentally, I also saw a Reddit post last night [2] with the original poster's data analysis of all their expenses recorded through 2020. I bookmarked it because I collected similar information during the previous three years to write another blog post. Unfortunately, I am still unsure how to write such an article without revealing too much personal information. [1] https://qotoqot.com/qbserve/ https://qotoqot.com/qbserve/ [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/kp3fcn/a/ https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/kp3fcn/a/

gbrindisi 6y ago
I am curious, can you share the reddit post?
saberience 6y ago
This comment depresses me so much. You track your own time obsessively and use it as a reference in performance reviews? This sounds like a dystopian hell out of Big Brother.
- guessmyname 6y ago
  > This comment depresses me so much. You track your own time obsessively and use it as a reference in performance reviews? To each their own. I genuinely find the data I track useful to reflect on what I spend my time on and whatnot, especially when I want to answer questions like: Did I get enough time off from work —and programming, in general— last quarter? Did I use the X program enough to justify a license renewal? How much time did I spend on meetings versus actual programming? Did I get enough sleep last week? Am I having lunch at regular times? How much time am I spending on professional growth? Etc. And for the sake of clarification, I started tracking my own time long before I got my current job, so clearly, I do not do it specifically for my performance reviews. I simply happen to find the data analysis useful to support some things I say, and also, as some people say “the more data you have, the more accurate the prediction”.

gbrindisi 6y ago

I am curious, can you share the reddit post?

saberience 6y ago

This comment depresses me so much. You track your own time obsessively and use it as a reference in performance reviews? This sounds like a dystopian hell out of Big Brother.

guessmyname 6y ago
> This comment depresses me so much. You track your own time obsessively and use it as a reference in performance reviews? To each their own. I genuinely find the data I track useful to reflect on what I spend my time on and whatnot, especially when I want to answer questions like: Did I get enough time off from work —and programming, in general— last quarter? Did I use the X program enough to justify a license renewal? How much time did I spend on meetings versus actual programming? Did I get enough sleep last week? Am I having lunch at regular times? How much time am I spending on professional growth? Etc. And for the sake of clarification, I started tracking my own time long before I got my current job, so clearly, I do not do it specifically for my performance reviews. I simply happen to find the data analysis useful to support some things I say, and also, as some people say “the more data you have, the more accurate the prediction”.