Tools for writing: SlimTimer

I use Harvest to track the time I spend on client projects but it costs real cash money and I’m seriously thinking of switching to SlimTimer. Why?

• It’s free. Can’t beat the price.
• It’s flexible. I can use tags to track and report on tasks.
• It’s easy. A sidebar comes up in Firefox and I click on a task to start the timer. Click on another to switch.
• It’s web 2.0-ish. Tasks can be tagged and shared.
• Good reporting. I need reports on the time I spend on different assignments for billing and it does pivot tables by user, tag and time.

I’m going to carry on playing with it but if it is effective, I’ll start using it next month for live time sheet data.

Both Harvest and SlimTimer are good for billing purposes.  I prefer working on a fixed price per project basis so charging by the day feels uncomfortable for me.  This is why I like to have really detailed breakdowns of exactly what I was doing for my customer’s money.

Sometimes I look back on a day and wonder where the time went.  Being able to track what I did in detail – even non-billable hours – is very helpful.  I don’t do this kind of tracking on every task, every day but it’s an interesting experiment to run for a week.  What do you ACTUALLY spend your time on?  If anything’s possible, what’s important?

If you like this article, please share it!

• 

Related posts:

1. Writing tools: MindManager 8
2. Tools for writing: Joe’s Goals
3. Tools for writing: Bullfighter
4. Tools for writing: Aeron chair
5. Tools for writing: Distraction-free text editors II

Tagged as: Billing, Concentration