5 ms·

how do you measure your minutes of focused work?

tdeck 5y ago
I use a set of shell scripts that record when I start and stop work in a text file. The hard part is developing the habit. When I get up, switch to something non-work, or even start to daydream I stop it. Sometimes I still forget to start or stop it, so then I have to try to figure out when I started or stopped working from browser, command line, or undo history. Lately I have been using the pomodoro method on top of this, which is probably easier to get started with since it's fewer large blocks of time. The scripts are here FWIW, but they're written for an audience of one: https://github.com/tdeck/timing https://github.com/tdeck/timing There's also some stuff in there for various other schemes like daily goals, some notion of "debt" etc... that I used at various times to manage my motivation and pacing. I've found it works best to just plan a number of pomodoros for each task, map out my day in half hour slots, and decide when I will do them.
- danuker 5y ago
  For when you forget to record, check out ActivityWatch: https://activitywatch.net/ https://activitywatch.net/
danuker 5y ago
I use LibreOffice Calc. Ctrl+Shift+; (or Ctrl+:) inputs a time (or Ctrl+; just a date). On each row, I have a start and end time of a work "session" or "pomodoro". Do a subtraction: end - start = duration (in days). I aim each day to be 4 hours, but sometimes I over or under-work, so I also have a running sum across days, subtracting 4h for each workday (so I should keep it near zero). I also use ActivityWatch - https://activitywatch.net/ https://activitywatch.net/ -, but more as a backup in case I forget to record. I don't trust it too much, because, say, time in the Slack window could be work or just chat. I am brutally honest and only bill what I consider "real" work. That is out of appreciation for my boss, who is trusting as well as receptive, and contributes back to open-source projects we use.

I use a set of shell scripts that record when I start and stop work in a text file. The hard part is developing the habit. When I get up, switch to something non-work, or even start to daydream I stop it. Sometimes I still forget to start or stop it, so then I have to try to figure out when I started or stopped working from browser, command line, or undo history. Lately I have been using the pomodoro method on top of this, which is probably easier to get started with since it's fewer large blocks of time. The scripts are here FWIW, but they're written for an audience of one: https://github.com/tdeck/timing https://github.com/tdeck/timing There's also some stuff in there for various other schemes like daily goals, some notion of "debt" etc... that I used at various times to manage my motivation and pacing. I've found it works best to just plan a number of pomodoros for each task, map out my day in half hour slots, and decide when I will do them.

danuker 5y ago
For when you forget to record, check out ActivityWatch: https://activitywatch.net/ https://activitywatch.net/

danuker 5y ago

I use LibreOffice Calc. Ctrl+Shift+; (or Ctrl+:) inputs a time (or Ctrl+; just a date). On each row, I have a start and end time of a work "session" or "pomodoro". Do a subtraction: end - start = duration (in days). I aim each day to be 4 hours, but sometimes I over or under-work, so I also have a running sum across days, subtracting 4h for each workday (so I should keep it near zero). I also use ActivityWatch - https://activitywatch.net/ https://activitywatch.net/ -, but more as a backup in case I forget to record. I don't trust it too much, because, say, time in the Slack window could be work or just chat. I am brutally honest and only bill what I consider "real" work. That is out of appreciation for my boss, who is trusting as well as receptive, and contributes back to open-source projects we use.