RescueTime

RescueTime is a web based tool that allows you to track, categorize and report on how you spend your time while using your computer. I should mention up front that you do have to install a small app that sits in your system tray. This app sends the usage information to the RescueTime website.

The value of RescueTime is achieved by spending a little bit of time tagging the apps that you use and then assigning a productivity score to each of those tags. This does require a fair bit of time on the end users part but I imagine after a while it becomes less of a burden (Note: I’m only 2 days into using the app so I’m still spending a good piece of time tagging my apps).

Goals and Alerts allow you to define criteria to monitor your usage of a specific type of application. I’ve got one setup that goes like this “I want to spend less than 2 hours per weekday on chat.”

Along with the goals you create comes a simple system for keeping you up to date on your progress to achieving them. There is an RSS feed that updates once a day with your goals status as well as an email notification system that provides the same information to one or more email addresses.

The final portion of the site that really adds some value in my mind is the Productivity and Efficiency ratings that are displayed on the dashboard.

(Explanations of these metrics)

I’m guessing that over the long term these numbers will provide some value. I spend a lot of time at the computer and this might open my eyes to some bad habits that I’m sure I have but up until now have not been able to quantify.

My experience with RescueTime so far has been a good one. It has allowed me to observe a part of my life from a that has up until now been unmeasurable.

http://www.rescuetime.com