-
Notifications
You must be signed in to change notification settings - Fork 105
Description
I am a very strong believer in retroactive time tracking being the best mechanic for keeping accurate track of all life events.
Since keeping score 24/7 is not an easy habit, making it as convenient and friction-less is key.
I have tracked periods of my life, totaling years, using the apps SaveMyTime and Self M
They lack a lot of features Simple Time Tracker has and I'd love to switch.
You may be familiar with their workflow, but i will briefly explain for context, if you're not:
They are entirely retroactive and only ask what activity has been done in the last untracked period, leading to no gaps in the day.
Their main feature is an activity selection pop-up either as the lockscreen or instantly after-unlocking, meaning each time you touch your phone you are just one click away from input. This is really the game changer, the way i see it, because
24/7 tracking means a lot of consistent inputs.
Not having the easiest way to make these inputs, can lead to postponing. Postponing and having to remember and input several activities and their lengths creates cognitive weight. And all this leads to breaking the habit.
I also believe there are some real benefits of 24/7 tracking, not only in analysis, but in actually being nudged dozens of time during the day to think "how am i spending my time right now?"
Two suggestions for Simple Time Tracker on it's journey to be the ultimate time tracker:
- Selection of multiple past activities:
"Select what you have been doing" screen currently only allows one activity to be chosen.
So if my last untracked period is a 30 minutes drive and 1h in the gym and i want to be accurate about the gym time I need to input one of them as the last activity > go and edit that activity > split it > go and edit one of the split parts and change to the right activity. The way it could be: Tracking allows multiple items selected and if 2 or more are selected shows a screen where you allocate the time to each one (screenshot example) Please note, the order of these activities is also of some importance - by either making it mirror the user selection order, or allowing reordering at the time allocation step. - The lockscreen pop-up:
(screenshot example) I've already given context behind this. The current best way i found to make it with Simple Time Tracker is to either use third party tools like Tasker to bring up the app on top each time you unlock your phone, or to put all your activities as widgets. Both having drawbacks.