Ask HN: Any Devs using HubStaff for time-tracking? - artur_makly
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artur_makly
[https://hubstaff.com/](https://hubstaff.com/)

Just curious what your feelings are about this level of 'tracking'.

Do you feel comfortable with it?

Is it too obtrusive?

Would you walk away from a project if this was required of you?

~~~
BinarySoloChad
I'm using it both as an employee, and as an employer right now. Depending on
the manager (or company / "organization" as it's called in Hubstaff) some of
the features can be turned on or off.

As an employer, I absolutely love it. I've actually turned off all the
intrusive features (screenshots, app tracking) and use it mostly just to get
very accurate hours to bill our clients. Since my team works almost all on the
computer, they use mostly just the desktop apps and it's pretty simple to use
it as just a start / stop timer for when you're working.

As a consultant / freelancer / whatever term you want these days, it does
force me to focus. Because I know there are screenshots, I do tend to do get
heads down on a task. Some of us simply walk away from the computer when we
need to take a break and let the timer detect if we were idle long enough that
it needs to be removed. I tend to stop the timer manually when I need to get
up and walk around. (~25 minutes.)

I find it also helps me make sure that I can bill enough hours to meet all of
my financial goals, since the information is surfaced in the tool.

From the employee end, a lot of how comfortable you feel might end up with the
manager as well. If they're lording over the data expecting 90 - 100% typing
or will let you go at the first screenshot of a personal email, that would
make me uncomfortable enough to walk away.

