Time Tracking with Chrometa

I often get asked if our desktop time tracker is available on mobile devices.  Since it’s not, I try to direct folks to the best of breed time tracker apps on the market.

If you live by your BlackBerry, here’s a list of some of the top rated time tracking apps in BlackBerry App World. Take advantage of these apps to capture your mobile email and telephone time, and get paid for your work on the go.

1. Call Time Tracker by momentem

Price: Free

momentem’s Call Time Tracker is one of the most downloaded business applications for the BlackBerry. It automatically tracks the time you spend on phone calls and mobile email. This app pops up at the end of important calls, letting you quickly tag that call to a client or project so you won’t forget to bill for it. You can tag the time you spend reading or writing emails on your BlackBerry. At the end of the month, you get an Excel sheet of your mobile calls delivered to your inbox, with entries neatly categorized by client/project.

Call Time Tracker - Tagging a call

Call Time Tracker - Call summary

Disclaimer: momemtem is also a Chrometa partner.

2. BlackTrack Lite Activity Management

Price: Free

BlackTrack Lite is a background application for your BlackBerry that produces a complete log of phone/email activity with duration details. The app automatically logs and reports phone and email activity — without any data entry. The activity report is automatically emailed to the user periodically.

BlackTrack Lite Report

BlackTrack Lite App Screenshot

3. Timr

Price: Free

Timr is essentially a BlackBerry timer app that integrates tightly with their multi-user time tracking web app. The BlackBerry app syncs automatically with the web, so all of your time entries are in one place. This application does not do background tracking of phone call and email time. However, you can create many projects and run multiple timers simultaneously. Key differentiating features include Drive Log and Position Tracking.

Timr BlackBerry Interface

Timr Web App

4. Exgis Time Tracker

Price: $4.99

Exgis Time Tracker is a simple timer for tracking your job time. You create time entries either by starting a timer or by manual input. You can export your time in the form of a spreadsheet, which can be sent to you via email.

Exgis Time Tracker - New Time Line

Exgis Time Tracker - View Clients

5. miTimesheet

Price: $3.99

miTimesheet is another BlackBerry only time tracking application that lets you log project time through timers and manual entry. You can export your timesheet to CSV format and it can be delivered to you by email.

miTimesheet - Time Entry

miTimesheet - View TImesheets

Honorable mention: AIRTIME-Manager

We’d be remiss if we didn’t also include an honorable mention of our own – from another Chrometa partner, Airtime Manager makes a solid BlackBerry Time Tracker for attorneys and legal professionals.

Geared towards firms with entrenched billing systems, Airtime Manager integrates smoothly with many of the top legal time and billing software packages.

That wraps up our BlackBerry time tracking app rec’s.  If you’re looking for PC-based time tracking, time management, and productivity software, check out our creations

Hi, my name is Brett.  And I have a serious email problem.

I just learned that I spend a quarter of my working hours staring at my Inbox.

You may be wondering – how is that even possible?  Brett, what are you – braindead?!

Sadly…I may be.  Here’s the shocking proof – captured by Chrometa itself:

Note that in this sample, I have 37 hours of active time (so that does not count phone or meeting time – only active time on my PC).  This was recorded over a 2+ week span.

Due to product testing and such, Chrometa was not running all of the time (though my co-workers may scoff and say that I’m busted for putting in 20 hour weeks!)

AND here’s the really sad part – individual emails are recorded separately, by their subject line, and are therefore not even included in this massive number!

So the 8+ hour entry under Microsoft Outlook – Inbox is solely due to time that I spent looking at Outlook, without an individual email open.  There are a limited number of things I could have been doing, and none of them are particularly productive:

1. Checking for new email
2. Reading an email through the preview pane
3. Looking at my calendar

I’d like to look at the bright side of this finding.  Like you, I often consider myself way too busy to get everything done that I’d like to.  So in a sense, this underperformance is a good thing, as there’s a lot of room for improvement!

In fact, I know that productivity experts often assert that any time you waste is not limited that time itself, but also encompasses the “switching cost” of diverting your focus.  So if my Inbox time is in fact due to obsessively checking for new email, then I’m losing a lot more time than is even displayed here!

Since it is a new year, and a new decade to boot, it’s a perfect time to look at this area as some real “low hanging fruit” for improving productivity.  It’s safe to say that checking email every 5-10 minutes is a disastrous approach – but what is the right approach?

Personally I’m used to being on the “front lines” from a sales and support standpoint, so a once or twice a day checking of email wouldn’t suffice.  But what would the optimal frequency be?  Every hour?  Longer?  Shorter?

What email best practices would you recommend?