5 ms·

Klog retrospective: One year into my open-source time tracking project

34 points by jotaen 5y ago

jotaen 5y ago
Just for reference, this was the discussion of the “Show HN” post from February, when I initially published the project: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25995838 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25995838
joeld42 5y ago
Thanks for sharing this! I've been struggling with time tracking, I use a phone app but it doesn't really fit my habits anymore, especially now that I'm doing work on desktop and not mobile. This looks like exactly what I'm looking for!
jmercouris 5y ago
Comparison with TimeWarrior? It seems to satisfy all of your constraints. https://timewarrior.net/ https://timewarrior.net/
- jotaen 5y ago
  Timewarrior uses a custom data format, but I don’t think it’s meant to be read or manipulated by hand. You technically can, but you’d need to spell out full UTC timestamps, for example. It’s a great tool in general, though.
  - jmercouris 5y ago
    I see, thank you for the explanation.
pabs3 5y ago
I'm enjoying Hamster for time tracking, especially that they have several different types of interfaces. https://github.com/projecthamster https://github.com/projecthamster
- jotaen 5y ago
  Thanks for that link, I didn’t know Hamster yet. I agree, having a UI (at least optionally) is a big plus.
haxername 5y ago
I like the simplicity of it. And set up my own file just to do some testing. Will try to use it and see how it goes!
lbj 5y ago
This is why Hackers/Freelancers are so hard to please. I made ZimTik for almost all of the reasons this guy mentions. I just wanted something as simple as a spreadsheet that automatically takes care of as much as possible (invoices, taxes, expenses, etc). But we don't expose everything as txt files. But that's something I'll have to consider I guess :)
rlv-dan 5y ago
If you are looking for a simple time tracking app for Windows you are welcome to try CCTime: https://github.com/rlv-dan/CCTime https://github.com/rlv-dan/CCTime
mgbmtl 5y ago
I agree with the author that it's hard to generalize use-cases, and make it easy to use. It looks like a really nice solution for solo tracking. I freelanced a few years and now work in a small consulting/hosting co-op. We have to manage time for dozens of active projects. When it's time to invoice clients, I often end up doing small tweaks on my time-tracker. It used to take me 30 minutes to generate/send an invoice. When I had 2 clients, quarterly invoicing, that was fine. These days I generate around 20 invoices per quarter, 5-10 minutes per onvoice. It includes emailing the client and including a time sheet. Besides reinventing the wheel (well, partially, because it uses our CRM product), I find it really useful to support Gitlab and Matternost webhooks. I can do "/spend 1h" on the client's issue, and it adds the time in the right project. Similarly I can do "/punch 10:00+1h acme/support [comment]" on mattermost, and it will do the same. It's overkill for most, but I think good time tracking and invoicing are similar to having a good dev setup. You'll save time and avoid frustration down the road. Freelancer and consulting shops often need to track all those small 15 mins calls and emails, which add up, and sometimes a client will ask where that time went, so it's important to have good reports.
- jotaen 5y ago
  > I think good time tracking and invoicing are similar to having a good dev setup. I agree and found that to be especially true with freelancing, since the work time is the effectively basis for the invoice. One hint for those curious: klog isn’t capable of generating reports (as in a HTML or PDF). But there is the `klog json` subcommand that enables people to create their own, much like in the spirit of what was recently discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29435786 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29435786

34 points by jotaen 5y ago

Just for reference, this was the discussion of the “Show HN” post from February, when I initially published the project: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25995838 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25995838

joeld42 5y ago

Thanks for sharing this! I've been struggling with time tracking, I use a phone app but it doesn't really fit my habits anymore, especially now that I'm doing work on desktop and not mobile. This looks like exactly what I'm looking for!

jmercouris 5y ago

Comparison with TimeWarrior? It seems to satisfy all of your constraints. https://timewarrior.net/ https://timewarrior.net/

jotaen 5y ago
Timewarrior uses a custom data format, but I don’t think it’s meant to be read or manipulated by hand. You technically can, but you’d need to spell out full UTC timestamps, for example. It’s a great tool in general, though.
- jmercouris 5y ago
  I see, thank you for the explanation.

pabs3 5y ago

I'm enjoying Hamster for time tracking, especially that they have several different types of interfaces. https://github.com/projecthamster https://github.com/projecthamster

jotaen 5y ago
Thanks for that link, I didn’t know Hamster yet. I agree, having a UI (at least optionally) is a big plus.

haxername 5y ago

I like the simplicity of it. And set up my own file just to do some testing. Will try to use it and see how it goes!

lbj 5y ago

This is why Hackers/Freelancers are so hard to please. I made ZimTik for almost all of the reasons this guy mentions. I just wanted something as simple as a spreadsheet that automatically takes care of as much as possible (invoices, taxes, expenses, etc). But we don't expose everything as txt files. But that's something I'll have to consider I guess :)

rlv-dan 5y ago

If you are looking for a simple time tracking app for Windows you are welcome to try CCTime: https://github.com/rlv-dan/CCTime https://github.com/rlv-dan/CCTime

mgbmtl 5y ago

I agree with the author that it's hard to generalize use-cases, and make it easy to use. It looks like a really nice solution for solo tracking. I freelanced a few years and now work in a small consulting/hosting co-op. We have to manage time for dozens of active projects. When it's time to invoice clients, I often end up doing small tweaks on my time-tracker. It used to take me 30 minutes to generate/send an invoice. When I had 2 clients, quarterly invoicing, that was fine. These days I generate around 20 invoices per quarter, 5-10 minutes per onvoice. It includes emailing the client and including a time sheet. Besides reinventing the wheel (well, partially, because it uses our CRM product), I find it really useful to support Gitlab and Matternost webhooks. I can do "/spend 1h" on the client's issue, and it adds the time in the right project. Similarly I can do "/punch 10:00+1h acme/support [comment]" on mattermost, and it will do the same. It's overkill for most, but I think good time tracking and invoicing are similar to having a good dev setup. You'll save time and avoid frustration down the road. Freelancer and consulting shops often need to track all those small 15 mins calls and emails, which add up, and sometimes a client will ask where that time went, so it's important to have good reports.

jotaen 5y ago
> I think good time tracking and invoicing are similar to having a good dev setup. I agree and found that to be especially true with freelancing, since the work time is the effectively basis for the invoice. One hint for those curious: klog isn’t capable of generating reports (as in a HTML or PDF). But there is the `klog json` subcommand that enables people to create their own, much like in the spirit of what was recently discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29435786 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29435786