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I might buy this to use as follows. I want a work-time tracker that lights a bright LED every 5 minutes or so, and as long as I'm there and working I smash a b

I might buy this to use as follows. I want a work-time tracker that lights a bright LED every 5 minutes or so, and as long as I'm there and working I smash a button and the light goes off for another 5 minutes. Some algorithm tracks the times I have hit the button and displays how long I have been working on said task. I'm picturing something fairly cheap, like a stop watch or 3 button kitchen timer. A LED, a few buttons, a LCD display, a AAA battery slot, and an internal timing circuit is all that's needed (and a case to hold it together). This would basically be a stop watch that stops on its own if neglected, and I can imagine a few uses for it.

0cf8612b2e1e 2y ago
I assume lawyers have some mechanism like this already. Law firms can require staff to allocate every 6-8 minutes of their day. Which sounds terrible and likely to be wildly inaccurate as people cannot be bothered to invest that much overhead into their job.
- turblety 2y ago
  > likely to be wildly inaccurate My gut reaction and prejudiced against all lawyers is it's probably in the law firms interest that these are inaccurate.
  - 0cf8612b2e1e 2y ago
    For sure that seems the intention. Create an “audit trail” for billing while simultaneously making it so onerous that the employees have to fudge the numbers.
  - hobs 2y ago
    In my experience it just means a lawyer marks each hour via charging you 10 increments, and that in some cases some forms of comms are generally charged at a sub-hourly charge. In most cases working with a lawyer is a fixed fee or going to be on a retainer basis where the hours pile up regardless, not so much about tracking every moment for every person.
- joshvm 2y ago
  This is how Swiss medical appointments are billed. I forget exactly how granular, but it's pretty small - 5-10 minutes. As a result, you tend to be quite efficient when going to the GP, because it’s a few Francs a minute If I retain a lawyer at $1k an hour, you bet I want 5 minute billing.
  - mattkrause 2y ago
    Sadly for you, I think 6 minute increments (i.e., 0.1 of an hour) might be more common.
- SoftTalker 2y ago
  If your pay depends on it, you magically become very good at it. I hate time tracking and time sheets and all of that but at any job I had where I would not get paid without it, it got done.
ac_15 2y ago
Add an alarm to play VERY LOUD if the button is not pressed in a 5-7 minute window to keep you working. If you fail to do so the entire office/house has to hear your alarm going off
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
felideon 2y ago
Make it a fidget toy and you're onto something.
- Buttons840 2y ago
  A big satisfying button to push is welcome.
- adamyormark 2y ago
  [flagged]
wepple 2y ago
I’ve got this, just some simple JS that flashes bgcolor when the time is up, and I click to extend. I just keep a tiny thin browser on my laptop display I set it to 15 minutes or it’s too frequent. I’ve considered a hardware device (and have tried some) but I like to also track time in meetings, so I’d be lugging it around with me.

0cf8612b2e1e 2y ago

I assume lawyers have some mechanism like this already. Law firms can require staff to allocate every 6-8 minutes of their day. Which sounds terrible and likely to be wildly inaccurate as people cannot be bothered to invest that much overhead into their job.

turblety 2y ago
> likely to be wildly inaccurate My gut reaction and prejudiced against all lawyers is it's probably in the law firms interest that these are inaccurate.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 2y ago
  For sure that seems the intention. Create an “audit trail” for billing while simultaneously making it so onerous that the employees have to fudge the numbers.
- hobs 2y ago
  In my experience it just means a lawyer marks each hour via charging you 10 increments, and that in some cases some forms of comms are generally charged at a sub-hourly charge. In most cases working with a lawyer is a fixed fee or going to be on a retainer basis where the hours pile up regardless, not so much about tracking every moment for every person.
joshvm 2y ago
This is how Swiss medical appointments are billed. I forget exactly how granular, but it's pretty small - 5-10 minutes. As a result, you tend to be quite efficient when going to the GP, because it’s a few Francs a minute If I retain a lawyer at $1k an hour, you bet I want 5 minute billing.
- mattkrause 2y ago
  Sadly for you, I think 6 minute increments (i.e., 0.1 of an hour) might be more common.
SoftTalker 2y ago
If your pay depends on it, you magically become very good at it. I hate time tracking and time sheets and all of that but at any job I had where I would not get paid without it, it got done.

ac_15 2y ago

Add an alarm to play VERY LOUD if the button is not pressed in a 5-7 minute window to keep you working. If you fail to do so the entire office/house has to hear your alarm going off

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

felideon 2y ago

Make it a fidget toy and you're onto something.

Buttons840 2y ago
A big satisfying button to push is welcome.
adamyormark 2y ago
[flagged]

wepple 2y ago

I’ve got this, just some simple JS that flashes bgcolor when the time is up, and I click to extend. I just keep a tiny thin browser on my laptop display I set it to 15 minutes or it’s too frequent. I’ve considered a hardware device (and have tried some) but I like to also track time in meetings, so I’d be lugging it around with me.