Artist's dashboard

A comment on the question "Tracking time when I am not using the computer" in RescueTime:

I think Artist suggestion is fully matches yours. Isn't it? – sheFF9, on July 29, 2008 13:56

A comment on the question "Tracking time when I am not using the computer" in RescueTime:

I think Artist suggestion is fully matches yours. Isn't it? – sheFF9, on July 29, 2008 13:56

Dominic Sparks replied on July 29, 2008 11:01 to the question "Tracking time when I am not using the computer" in RescueTime:

Hi,
I had the same question too. For me I think the best solution is just a (configurable) panel of buttons, or menu, on that I can just click when I start doing something. RescueTime is great at tracking my current application, but if I pick-up the phone, or start reading a paper document, or stop for a coffee break, then it's no longer correct. Having a popup panel / menu that I can launch from the task bar would solve all my problems.
Thanks

quux replied on July 23, 2008 19:16 to the question "Tracking time when I am not using the computer" in RescueTime:

I like Max & Aneesh's suggestions a lot. Artist has a great idea too. Some combination of these would be great. Mining calendar info ... maybe useful. But I would be inclined to prioritize it lower than getting actual feedback from the user, since it's likely that many users are not diligent in calendar upkeep.

Maybe later some way to feed selected data back into a user's calendar would be handy though!

quux started following the question "Tracking time when I am not using the computer" in RescueTime.

Max replied on July 23, 2008 13:30 to the question "Tracking time when I am not using the computer" in RescueTime:

#1 is pretty good. And I would add the option to change the "auto-ratings" (as determined from calendar). So, when RescueTime notices that you have returned to the computer, pop up and ask whether the Calendar entry reflected the correct tag, and allow the user to select something else (or even, multiple entries).

Say you left the computer and went to lunch first, then had a meeting. When you return, it would prompt you for 2 missing hours and ask:

You just returned to the computer. What did you do in the mean time?

[ ] I did not do anything
[ ] I had "Meeting with customer" (read from Calendar)
[ ] I did something else: ___________________

Give it some way to tick both "Meeting with Customer" and enter "Lunch", and select how the time was partitioned between those two.

jon wong replied on July 23, 2008 05:55 to the question "Tracking time when I am not using the computer" in RescueTime:

how about create an iPhone app that knows where you are via GPS and then allows you to tag locations for different types of productivity. So you can set one location as your bedroom -- where you sleep, or you could look up your location in google and it will tell you if you are in a grocery store or not, and you can tag stores as another type of productivity

artephius marked one of Artist's replies in RescueTime as useful. Artist replied to the question "Tracking time when I am not using the computer".

artephius replied on July 22, 2008 16:45 to the question "Tracking time when I am not using the computer" in RescueTime:

#1 is a good solution - of course then your productivity would go down b/c you'd spend more time documenting your down time.
I'm really not crazy about #2 - the ui could be too "harassing," and if you don't think you'd fill in an im asking what you were doing for the last x minutes, why on earth would you fill out a daily survey asking what you were doing during times x,y,z,... ?

An interesting problem, as both of these solutions may push the limits of intrusiveness, and maybe it's just me but the best thing about this app is that it's hands-off.

Artist's idea for creating 'hibernate' categories is a simple, elegant, hands-off solution. I like it a lot.

One thing I'd add to that idea is that if there is no active app for x minutes, and the user has not specified they're at "lunch" or "meeting" or whatever, the next time they become active a notification would come up saying "You've been inactive for x minutes, 1. log time -->"lunch"... (present a list of selections based on frequency) or 2. no logging." Not entirely hands off, but it would handle more use-cases with less intrusiveness if the ui was well done. And it could be a one-time deal to minimize intrusiveness, like a "remember this setting" check box.

This could also allow you to log time to the last active app, say for example when you are away from your desk chasing someone down for an answer you need to continue with what you had running when the computer went inactive...

Aneesh replied on July 18, 2008 04:54 to the question "Tracking time when I am not using the computer" in RescueTime:

I think #2 is too annoying and #1 is imperfect. Also, for #2, I don't remember what all my tags are. Can I just say "lunch" and tag it later? I don't speak RescueTime-ese :)

What about this:
3) At the end of each day, send the user an email with all times where I was idle from the computer for over (say) 15 minutes. For example, you'd send:

"Hey, what were you doing today during the following times

11:03am to 12:15pm: ________
12:40pm to 1:17pm: ________
2:58pm to 3:18pm: ________
4:00pm to 5:11pm: ________ "

And I'd reply by filling in the blanks (you could redirect me to some web form, or specifiy the format of my reply email so you could parse it).

What do people think of that?

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sheFF9 started following the question "Tracking time when I am not using the computer" in RescueTime.

A comment on the question "Tracking time when I am not using the computer" in RescueTime:

Yea! It's simple Like "status" in ICQ
I think it would be usefull to make ability to add your own statuses and when RT detects that user is out - show the splash window were user must select the type of activitiy. It would be nice if selection of activitiy could be done even if user returns back after 1 or more hours. – sheFF9, on July 15, 2008 10:56

sheFF9 marked one of Artist's replies in RescueTime as useful. Artist replied to the question "Tracking time when I am not using the computer".

xiebob replied on July 09, 2008 23:04 to the question "Tracking time when I am not using the computer" in RescueTime:

I agree - 2 sounds pretty good to me, especially if you could configure the mode of communication. I would love a chat. Some people might like an email. Another option, have a segment in the dashboard for these questions of time-away-from-the-computer time accounting.

Great app, thanks!

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Dallas Despain replied on February 04, 2008 15:34 to the question "Tracking time when I am not using the computer" in RescueTime:

Ah, I knew I couldn't have been the first one! I like both of these options! Is that OK? or do you have to choose one? I don't think 2 is too disruptive, especially if you could set how long too wait before sending you an sms. Or otherwise prompting you, such as the app flashing a prompt on your screen.

#1 seems risky, because calendar's represent plans, and meetings go long, we forget them, and other things happen. But as long as we could tell RT what really happened after it logged the time off the calendar, then I think it would be great.

Leslie Chicoine replied on January 21, 2008 18:00 to the problem "Feedback on problems using GetSatisfaction" in Get Satisfaction:

Thank you for the feedback and I'm sorry your experience was so frustrating! We'll work to improve these issues.

Eric Suesz replied on January 20, 2008 23:54 to the problem "Feedback on problems using GetSatisfaction" in Get Satisfaction:

Yes, thanks for this info. We've rewritten our e-mail communications, and those should be instituted very soon. Your feedback compels me to get it finished even faster. Thank you!