I’m a newbie quantifier (I only track a few basic activities in my daily life thanks to Samsung Health), but I’d like to integrate this quantification in my professional life. Remote working gives me more autonomy, freedom etc., but the problem of procrastination arises sometimes and I think that quantification could help me, what do you think?
I would also like to have your experience feedback on quantification in the professional environment. What made you do it? Did it correspond to your expectations? What are the benefits and limitations of this practice according to you?
I think tracking work is extremely important and I’m a huge fan personally. I’m the cofounder of Rize.io, a personal time tracker for your work that improves focus and builds better work habits. We were built for this case exactly. Tracking my time keeps me accountable and helps me ensure my expectations are meeting my reality. Rize in particular shows me what apps and websites are distracting me the most. The benefits are huge in that you understand where you’re spending your time, hold yourself accountable, know what’s distracting you, and can avoid burnout or overworking.
There are definitely limitations of tracking too. It’s never going to be perfect and you can become obsessed with the data rather than the outcome. Just as you track your steps or calories burnt to stay healthy, not just to rack up the numbers, you need to always remember why you’re tracking your work. It’s not just to put up number but to make sure you’re being productive and staying on course.
Thank you very much for your reply! Indeed, as you present it, the usefulness of this practice seems obvious. Especially when you are aware of the limitations you mention. I will look into your application further, thank you.
I actually started using time-tracking tools to counteract procrastination and because I felt I was spending a lot of time answering emails.
I think these tools can be very useful when used wisely and when you personally want to “control” yourself. It allows me to organise my working days better and I think I am more productive because I set my goals according to my own way of working. We all have our own way of working and our own speed of execution and these tools help us to better assimilate this particularity.
I think that the limits of this kind of tools can come when you try to generalise the time/productivity ratio. Not everyone is equal in this respect and if these tools are and remain personal then they are very useful. In the case where this use is constrained and there is some comparison between people then I think they can be less useful, or even have a negative effect. I would never want to share my data with a manager for example. For me it is contrary to the “self” of Quantified-Self.
Hi, activitywatch is a great open source tool that records all of your active windows and tabs. I am currently writting a post about it. Very interesting to understand the distractions etc.