A few folks have suggested through Skribit that I write a topic entitled Time Management for Macs. It’s been on my To Do list for a while, and until today I did not know what to do with it. Now I do: I’d like to ask for one of you, either a Mac or Linux user, to write about time management on your machine.
I’m not the best guy to write about it, because I cheat: I use VMware Fusion to run Outlook in a virtual machine on my Mac, and I use Outlook. Or, at least I have been using Outlook. I am getting away from it, and using Google Calendar almost exclusively as my calendar. Outlook still houses my “master task list” (my list of all tasks and projects and someday/maybe items), but I typically use 3×5 cards to keep the pertinent items in front of my face.
For a while I tried to use iCal on my iMac as a means of managing my time. I used The Missing Sync to sync my Outlook entries into iCal and Address Book, and tried working with the entries on my iMac. But, iCal sucks at handling tasks. I looked around to see if there were some Apple Scripts I could use to put the iCal tasks into some other form (text files, for example), and then a script to sync back, but had no luck with the sync-back scripts. So, when I discovered VMware Fusion, I said to hell with trying to use iCal.
I also decided that I did not want to use any specialized Mac time-management software, and there is a lot of it out there. My reasoning is simple: if I get a wild hair and decide to switch to using Linux most of the time, I don’t want to have to spend a month of my life trying to convert all of my Mac time management data to Linux. I have become a big fan of data portability. Hence, I have been watching with interest to see what Web tools are available for this, and also how well each of these tools behave on mobile devices (such as BlackBerry, iPhone, WinMo and Palm smartphones).
(Frankly I can see some wisdom in the folks who have decided to stick with paper planners and avoid all of the hassles with data portability.)
Anyway, enough about where my head is at on this stuff. According to my web analytics software, about 27% of you use Macs and about another 5% use Linux. And, I know you folks are sharp. [I know this because you read Keener Living 
] Hence, if one of you would like to share some of your expertise on Time Management with Macs or Linux, there are a lot of us who would like to read it. You can contact me at BR 549 … excuse me, I meant brucekeener [at] gmail.com, or just chime in with your advice in the comments. By the way, since I continue to lose money on this blog, I really can’t justify paying anyone to write … but, if you like to write, this is a good way to help other Mac/Linux users.
Update: One thing I can do is modify this post to list links to articles that cover this topic well. So, if you know of good links to articles that already cover this well, let me know. No point in us trying to reinvent the wheel, so to speak.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Fokke Kooistra 02.16.08 at 2:31 pm
I have that same topic on my to write about list too
Problem is that I tend to switch to web based systems more and more. I use Entourage for mail, tasks, calendar and notes (the whole GTD workflow to say). Maybe I will write about it. If you want me to wrote something, just mail me.
Bruce 02.16.08 at 2:46 pm
Sounds great Fokke! I just sent an email to you.
Gavin Baker 03.06.08 at 2:59 am
I am moving to billable hours, so I’m also looking for a good solution in this category. I use Linux (Ubuntu) and it’s been a frustrating search. I don’t care whether it’s a Web app or a desktop app, but I want it to be open source, free (gratis), have a simple GUI that lets me track time for various tasks (reusable, i.e. to track all the hours for a certain client), and have a meaningful export feature (e.g. to a spreadsheet, so I can make an invoice).
I like Task Coach best so far. I’ve also tried gnotime, karm, and gtimelog. Task Coach’s options are better-suited to how I’m using it than gnotime or karm. gtimelog gets points for its simplicity, but it’s too basic for my purposes.
Bruce 03.06.08 at 9:14 am
Let us know what you wind up liking the best, Gavin. I do not have any personal experience in billable hours software for Linux, but sounds like you have discovered some interesting solutions.
I wonder whether 37signals’ BaseCamp or BackTrack might be good products for this? I do not know whether they even have billable hour tracking as a part of their functionality, but they do seem to be well-liked project management tools. Might be something to experiment with. I have thought about experimenting with them but haven’t done so yet.
cooper 06.29.08 at 1:34 pm
Bruce, these are usefull tools, I’m personally using Basecamp and Highrise in my studio. Basecamp has nice and clear basic time tracking functionality. Still, they are doing their best when used for collaboration, not for personal use. But you can try all of them, 37signals gives 1st month for free.
Under linux I’ve been using Gtimelog, but it’s a way too simple, and has not enough reporting options for me.
Bruce Keener 06.29.08 at 1:48 pm
Thank you, Cooper. I recently tried Basecamp, and found it to be very useful for project management. I went with the $24/month version, so did not have the time-tracking option, but it is a very useful tool. I used it long enough to see that it is really more powerful than suits my current, simplistic needs, but became convinced that the product deserves the good reputation it has amassed.
Thanks again.