
Show HN: I built an app that ensures that I track my home office working hours - l1am0
https://waywo.simon-frey.eu/
======
retSava
I use three very simple aliases for the commandline,

    
    
      alias ttag='/cygdrive/c/Dropbox/tools/ttag/ttag.sh'
      alias ttagcat='cat /cygdrive/c/Dropbox/tools/ttag/ttag-logfile.txt'
      alias ttago='open /cygdrive/c/Dropbox/tools/ttag/ttag-logfile.txt'
    

where `ttag.sh` is

    
    
      # specify the logfile
      LOGFILE=/cygdrive/c/Dropbox/tools/ttag/ttag-logfile.txt
      # timestamp format
      TIMESTAMP_NICE=$(date +"%F %H.%M.%S - %s:")
      # always append to the logfile
      echo $TIMESTAMP_NICE "$@" >> $LOGFILE
    

simple enough for me :) very simple to add a small note from the commandline,
which is timestamped. Makes it easier to get a grasp of how much time I've
spent on something, eg when switching between customer projects.

~~~
lioeters
I have aliases very similar to yours (only differences are that they're one or
two characters long, and the logs use ISO 8601 date format). Super quick to
append, read, and edit personal logs - no GUI could be better or more
immediate. I often grep it, but gotta admit could use an automated way to
calculate time differences.

~~~
retSava
yeah, I include timestamp not only in easy human readable format, but also in
epoch timestamp, so it's easier to calculate time diffs between entries.

------
Etheryte
I was gonna say positive things until the page-wide unclosable buy-me-now
popup jumped up. This is the kind of web no one wants to touch, even with a
long stick, never mind sponsoring it through an annual payment.

~~~
cercatrova
Pop-ups work well, most people aren't technical and find no problem with them.

~~~
Nextgrid
What do you mean by "work well"? Work well _for who_?

Just because a shitty, user-hostile web has been accepted by non-technical
users (because they don't know any better) doesn't mean we should condone or
encourage the behaviour.

The same applies to spammers, telemarketers, etc. We've more or less
"accepted" them as an ever-present nuisance, but it doesn't mean we should
legitimise nor approve that scummy behaviour.

~~~
cercatrova
They work well for the creator of the site. If the prime metric is, are people
wanting what I'm providing and it's easy for them to do so, then pop-ups work
very well. If the metric is, is my site pristine enough for other engineers,
then no they don't work well, as seen by the responses here. The choice is in
what to optimize for. If it works, it works, regardless of whatever scumminess
you may perceive.

------
felixfbecker
I wrote something more automatic for myself. I ask the Google Calendar API how
many hours I spend in meetings that week. From that I calculate how many
working hours I have for other things. I then use the WakaTime API to get how
many hours I spent working already (making sure to not double count during
meetings). WakaTime can track my editor usage, terminal usage and work in
Chrome (e.g. PR reviews). I use a separate Chrome profile to make sure I only
track work-related browsing time, and Choosy to open links to our company
GitHub automatically in the work profile. I show a summary of the time spent
and left in my terminal prompt. Overall really happy with it!

~~~
l1am0
Just for my interest: Would you use Waywo if it would work with WakaTime (as
that came up as Feature Request more often)

------
werber
I’ve noticed that my office is working more now that we’re all remote

~~~
corpMaverick
Less time wasted on meetings ?

~~~
zerr
It's actually an opposite in remote-friendly companies - more time is wasted
in meetings using corporate video conference software.

~~~
stephenr
I’ve worked remote for about 12 years. I can count the number of video
conference meetings I’ve had in that time on one hand. I could also cut off
both my hands and still count the number I’ve had.

Hint: it’s zero.

Remote working won’t fix stupid management decisions.

------
asnyder
I personally really like RescueTime
([https://www.rescuetime.com](https://www.rescuetime.com)), does all of the
tracking automatically and allows for custom categorization and productivity
settings. Been using it for many many years, they've been keeping up, even
added a mobile version a couple years back.

------
wingerlang
I swear by [https://timingapp.com/](https://timingapp.com/) it's almost
frictionless to track time. I've been using it at work for over 2 years daily
now, and I don't even use the results anymore.

~~~
puttycat
+1 Have been using it for a few months and it's given me great insights on how
I use (waste) my time. I especially like the fact that it's practically out-
of-the-box zero-configuration tracking. Highly recommended.

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cosmicforce
Wrote a prototype for something like this years ago but don't know enough
frontend stuff to take it to production. The big difference is there was a
certain amount of randomization to the survey prompt. And had some calendar
functionality so as not to ask during scheduled meetings. And allowed you to
set some top-level strategy/goals, so that the question "what are you working
on now / how bout now / etc" could include a bit more context around core
workstreams. Wanted to avoid typical taskmaster PM or GTD approaches that skew
toward micromanagement, while still maintaining a general sense of measurable
progress.

------
tsherr
"Never loose any of your entries"

Lose.

~~~
l1am0
Thanks!

------
Loic
Since 2010 or so, I am using the hamster applet under Gnome. Combined with
low-tech "paper", it has served me and my customers really well[1].

The Hamster project do not have a single homepage, thus the "search" link.

[0]:
[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=gnome+hamster+tracker](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=gnome+hamster+tracker)

[1]: [https://www.ceondo.com/ecte/2018/02/10-years-home-office-
lea...](https://www.ceondo.com/ecte/2018/02/10-years-home-office-learned-
lessons/)

------
cube00
One of the pros of the paid plan being "No more license key interruptions"
concerns me, how often will it nag for payment? I understand needing to be
paid but shouldn't nag screens be for trial periods leading to paid
subscriptions not for "free" tiers?

This concern stems from the giant full screen unclosable (no X at top right)
popup offering me 20% off if I buy now before I've even finished reading the
landing page.

~~~
l1am0
Yeah, the popup was a mistake :D Came up in other comments as well.

Waywo asks every 5th time for the license key, it is the same dialog as the
tracking one and thereby not full screen. It can easily be closed again

------
kemonocode
I've been using Taskwarrior in conjunction with Timewarrior to track time
spent on work tasks. I used to be skeptical about it but the whole command-
line first, spartan interface does wonders at keeping me focused. Better yet:
it allows to set up work hours so I don't have to stop a task whenever I'm no
longer working.

------
travbrack
I made something similar using Hammerspoon on Mac. I make a list of tasks, one
per line, with a time estimate. Hammerspoon will show the active task, the
time elapsed, and the estimate on top of everything using canvas. It's helped
me stay on task and be more realistic with my planning. If anyone is
interested I can share.

~~~
luckman212
Fellow Hammerspoon user here (great tool). Yes, I'd be interested to see how
you did this. Please share!

------
lorey
Not one comment in here is positive which saddens me. In the end, HN should
encourage people to build awesome solutions. But even Dropbox got negative
comments when they launched on HN, so maybe this is just how things work.

So here's my (positive) take: Great work, thanks for sharing. I especially
like the design of the page, playful but still clean. AFAIK there's a similar
app from toggl themselves, what are the advantages of your solution?

~~~
l1am0
Thank you so much for that comment! HN has a hard audience, but I thing most
points are quite valid so I will take them as feedback :D

Toggls solution is mainly for time tracking directly from the browser, so you
do not have to open the app. They currently do not provide the interruption
feature to ask you in (on top of) every application you are currently using.

------
zuhayeer
Folks don’t even track working hours at work let alone home

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elixanchor
i use harvest and i hate it but the toolbar app is convenient & delightfully
buggy

------
pietrovismara
Uuh no thanks. How about we trust employees and simply check the result of
their work? Who cares if someone has spent N hours sitting in front of the
screen, show me the results.

~~~
steve_adams_86
I get that, and I feel the same, but a lot of jobs require time entries with
work descriptions. I have had several of them.

Finding ways to minimize that burden on your workday is really nice. I hate
time tracking.

No comment on this product specifically, I'd have to try it. But a lot of us
can't just say no thanks to time tracking.

I should also add some people benefit personally from making this effort. I
have ADHD and though I hate time tracking, the information it gives me is
invaluable. I have a terrible sense of time (honestly almost none) and being
notified of intervals and knowing what I did is an excellent aid for keeping
on track and improving self awareness.

~~~
perl4ever
I thought I hated time tracking. Now I get to put in one time entry for my
whole shift, but I have to make reports constantly on what I'm doing which is
a lot more effort than just entering in chronological order what I did.

Simple time tracking helps keep you honest and tells you things you weren't
aware of, in my experience.

------
daneel_w
I already feel plenty annoyed as it is with project managers (and our Jira
setup) asking three times a day how things are progressing and how many hours
were spent on what. Second only to games, this has got to be the fastest
multiplying application category these past few years...

~~~
newusertoday
would you/your pm's buy a solution that would give this data without your
intervention?

~~~
daneel_w
Me, no. Them, maybe, once they have enough meaningful work during the days to
deliver them from the delusion that _repeated daily check-ins_ during 6 week
sprints is a valuable chore.

