4 ms·

You should sell this to Lawyers and other professionals who bill per hour to reconstruct their billables for the day without missing anything. They would pay b

You should sell this to Lawyers and other professionals who bill per hour to reconstruct their billables for the day without missing anything. They would pay big money for something that recovered forgotten(unbilled) work throughout the day.

whalesalad 1y ago
I’m a software contractor and I’ve wanted this forever. I’m prototyping something on Linux now.
- resonious 1y ago
  Let me know if this Linux app gets anywhere!
  - sally_glance 1y ago
    I've used https://github.com/ActivityWatch/activitywatch https://github.com/ActivityWatch/activitywatch before on Linux, it's actually quite good but takes a fair bit of fiddling to get good results.
    - thalesac 1y ago
      There's no plugin for screenshot or recording in 1fps.
      - sally_glance 1y ago
        Yeah, but it's written in a modular way and extending it is not as painful as one would expect. I actually went that way and wrote a couple of custom watchers for things like that.
- thalesac 1y ago
  +1! I was actually looking to fork ActivityWatch to support your exact flow.
mellosouls 1y ago
Per hour? In the UK they bill by the 6-minute! If ever anything told you something about a profession...
- typpilol 1y ago
  They sell in blocks of 1/10th hours??Thats gotta be the jail call special
  - jedberg 1y ago
    Every lawyer in the USA that I've ever worked with also bills in 6 minute increments. Which means every email is 6 minutes. Every phone call is at least 6 minutes. etc.
    - PMunch 1y ago
      Isn't this better though? The alternative being that every email or phone call is an hour, or that they batch it up based on gut feel. If I get a phone call that could easily steal 6 minutes of focus time (note that I specify focus time, even if the call is only 30 seconds you'd have to mentally switch tasks back and forth).
      - notpushkin 1y ago
        I’m not sure that 6 minutes is a useful denomination of focus time. Maybe legal work is too different from IT and it makes sense there, but when I need to focus on something, 15 minutes is the smallest amount I would allocate for a task.
1zael 1y ago
Devil's advocate opinion - this would also show how little per hour lawyers spend working :)
- darkstar_16 1y ago
  I get the sentiment behind your comment but I have a few lawyers in the family and they work round the clock. They might be in meetings or pouring over documents all day that might not look like work to the average software engineer but trust me, they do work hard. And it's true for everyone - from junior interns to senior partners.
  - throw-qqqqq 1y ago
    > They might be in meetings or pouring over documents all day FWIW it’s “poring over” when reading carefully. From Merriam-Webster “As a verb, pore means "to gaze intently" or "to reflect or meditate steadily." The verb pour has meanings referring to the falling or streaming of liquid (or things that move like liquid).”
- ramonga 1y ago
  lawyers have minimum billable time, if they reply to an email in 1min they will still bill you 10-15min. Ask me how I know :(
  - _w1tm 1y ago
    Wouldn’t you? If I switch context and interrupt my flow to answer a question I’m losing at least 20 mins to regaining focus, why shouldn’t that be reflected in billing? Knowledge work is knowledge work, no point belittling colleagues in a different profession.
  - protocolture 1y ago
    Thats how MSPs operate too. At least the good ones. Billing increments are sometimes as low as 6 minutes, or as high as 30. 15 minutes is average in my experience.
- 1y ago
MollyRealized 1y ago
I'm a litigation legal admin - I have been for 25-30 years. I instantly brought this up to an associate, telling them, "Maybe not now, but before you retire, this'll be the norm in the industry." She had been complaining the day before about having to reconstruct a huge bunch of little 0.1 entries involving e-mails to various individuals in cases. If it could be done automatically, through a local LLM? chef's kiss Trust me, law is definitely where you want to land this thing. In all honesty, I have absolutely no negotiating power or decision-making authority for my firm, but it's a big one -- if that's a direction you want to go, can't guaranty I can swing enough weight, but I probably could find you the right people to talk to, give you an introduction.
- MollyRealized 1y ago
  I'll also have to add, though, that you'd have to figure out a way for it to be cross-platform or live outside just macOS. Unfortunately, that's a very uncommon choice in the legal world (or anywhere else).

whalesalad 1y ago

I’m a software contractor and I’ve wanted this forever. I’m prototyping something on Linux now.

resonious 1y ago
Let me know if this Linux app gets anywhere!
- sally_glance 1y ago
  I've used https://github.com/ActivityWatch/activitywatch https://github.com/ActivityWatch/activitywatch before on Linux, it's actually quite good but takes a fair bit of fiddling to get good results.
  - thalesac 1y ago
    There's no plugin for screenshot or recording in 1fps.
    - sally_glance 1y ago
      Yeah, but it's written in a modular way and extending it is not as painful as one would expect. I actually went that way and wrote a couple of custom watchers for things like that.
thalesac 1y ago
+1! I was actually looking to fork ActivityWatch to support your exact flow.

mellosouls 1y ago

Per hour? In the UK they bill by the 6-minute! If ever anything told you something about a profession...

typpilol 1y ago
They sell in blocks of 1/10th hours??Thats gotta be the jail call special
- jedberg 1y ago
  Every lawyer in the USA that I've ever worked with also bills in 6 minute increments. Which means every email is 6 minutes. Every phone call is at least 6 minutes. etc.
  - PMunch 1y ago
    Isn't this better though? The alternative being that every email or phone call is an hour, or that they batch it up based on gut feel. If I get a phone call that could easily steal 6 minutes of focus time (note that I specify focus time, even if the call is only 30 seconds you'd have to mentally switch tasks back and forth).
    - notpushkin 1y ago
      I’m not sure that 6 minutes is a useful denomination of focus time. Maybe legal work is too different from IT and it makes sense there, but when I need to focus on something, 15 minutes is the smallest amount I would allocate for a task.

1zael 1y ago

Devil's advocate opinion - this would also show how little per hour lawyers spend working :)

darkstar_16 1y ago
I get the sentiment behind your comment but I have a few lawyers in the family and they work round the clock. They might be in meetings or pouring over documents all day that might not look like work to the average software engineer but trust me, they do work hard. And it's true for everyone - from junior interns to senior partners.
- throw-qqqqq 1y ago
  > They might be in meetings or pouring over documents all day FWIW it’s “poring over” when reading carefully. From Merriam-Webster “As a verb, pore means "to gaze intently" or "to reflect or meditate steadily." The verb pour has meanings referring to the falling or streaming of liquid (or things that move like liquid).”
ramonga 1y ago
lawyers have minimum billable time, if they reply to an email in 1min they will still bill you 10-15min. Ask me how I know :(
- _w1tm 1y ago
  Wouldn’t you? If I switch context and interrupt my flow to answer a question I’m losing at least 20 mins to regaining focus, why shouldn’t that be reflected in billing? Knowledge work is knowledge work, no point belittling colleagues in a different profession.
- protocolture 1y ago
  Thats how MSPs operate too. At least the good ones. Billing increments are sometimes as low as 6 minutes, or as high as 30. 15 minutes is average in my experience.
1y ago

MollyRealized 1y ago

I'm a litigation legal admin - I have been for 25-30 years. I instantly brought this up to an associate, telling them, "Maybe not now, but before you retire, this'll be the norm in the industry." She had been complaining the day before about having to reconstruct a huge bunch of little 0.1 entries involving e-mails to various individuals in cases. If it could be done automatically, through a local LLM? chef's kiss Trust me, law is definitely where you want to land this thing. In all honesty, I have absolutely no negotiating power or decision-making authority for my firm, but it's a big one -- if that's a direction you want to go, can't guaranty I can swing enough weight, but I probably could find you the right people to talk to, give you an introduction.

MollyRealized 1y ago
I'll also have to add, though, that you'd have to figure out a way for it to be cross-platform or live outside just macOS. Unfortunately, that's a very uncommon choice in the legal world (or anywhere else).