Tracking Time
This is what I want from time-trackng software.
- Tracks time in minutes
- Tracks individual tasks
- Ablity to group tasks for invoicing
- Timer in menu bar
- iPhone companion app
- Well-designed interface
- Doesn’t charge monthly fees
- Ability to manually edit/enter time
- Native desktop application, not web-based
For years I’ve been using Billable to track my time and create invoices. It’s simple, I’ll give it that. The application is focused only on tasks, clients & invoices. Unfortunately Billable’s time-tracker is stuck inside the application. It’s too often that I’ve forgotten to turn it off (or on) when switching between tasks. I realize that’s probably more my own fault than Billable’s, but without that timer out in the open, it might as well not exist. It’s a decent median application that gets the job done. It’s just not quite what I’m looking for.
Lately I’ve been using The Hit List to track tasks. Everything from household items to professional deadlines. I’m a big fan of keeping only one to do list.
I really think The Hit List could be great for my time tracking workflow except for one significant limitation — there’s currently no way to input time manually. If you forgot to set the timer when you started you’re out of luck.
Granted The Hit List is in beta still (until November? ugh) so this could just be something overlooked. Afterall you can click in the ‘actual time’ field and edit the numbers therein. They just don’t stick.
I know that other applications — Billings, for example — work for other people. Most have too many features, or subscription plans that I don’t want any part of. Everything I’ve tried feels like too much or too little. I don’t need to keep track of every single detail. But I do need to track individual items, and group them accordingly.
I guess I’ll stick it out with Billable for now. But in such a crowded market, I’m surprised there aren’t more median products to choose from.
The new Billable/Profit Train (http://moourl.com/vpuji) has to dos and the rest of what you (and I!) crave. No sign of an iPhone app though.
I’ve been seduced by Billings (which fulfills your criteria), but would like to see how Profit Train turns out.
I think you’re right and I’ll probably give Profit Train a go when it comes out. After I wrote this I started getting into Billings a little bit more and it’s worked well so far. I just wish their iPhone app were available already. Maybe that means they’re trying polish it up before launch though.
I think I’d have to choose Billings due to the iPhone app.
I think my next big app purchase will be the TOMTOM app. That’s going to be amazing!