Yast: Online Time Tracking Software for Freelancers
I’m an online freelance writer which means that I do most of my work sitting behind my computer except for the odd event I may have to attend or journey I may have to make. My job has completely different parameters than any other job the general population would have. One of these differences is the issue of time; more specifically the amount I allocate to work.I don’t punch in so I have to keep track of it all.
I like to keep track of how long I actually work so that I know my business is actually profitable is so far as I’m not working for buttons per hour. So I could just jot it down right? I guess so. But then we all have a tendency to forget to do so and even round up our figures so we’re not working with sloppy numbers when totaling it all up. Well Yast, an online timer has solved my problems.
To put it simply, you click the play button to begin timing and the stop button to stop; but that’s putting it simply.
Along the top of the screen there is a timing bar that illustrates how long you’ve worked and when on a particular project. You can have multiple projects so for me these are the following:
Work
Novel
For the average person you could see how long you spend playing games, how much time you devote to your blog or basically any other project you partake it; computer based or not.
If you need a timer – Yast is your best bet.
4 Comments
Hi Dean,
Thanks for the good review on Yast. We are still in the startup phase and will add new features and do things more smoothly as we go. Please give us feedback on how we can improve.
Have you discovered how to start the timer 5 minutes earlier yet? After pressing play, go up in the time bar and hold your mouse button over the red line that appears. Then you can drag the start-time back to when you really started. Neat?
Halvor
For Yast
I’m a developer on a time tracking add-in for Outlook (http://www.workingprogram.com/qlockwork.html) and I was wondering how much as a user you care about whether the tool is online. I have some ideas for turning our application online, but I’m still torn about how much of a difference that really makes to users for an application like this. Is online better or worse? Less to install, but your data does go off your PC. However, it is easier to have a free entry-level product on line, which is clearly a boon.
Anne,
I think that depends much on who you are and what type of work you do, but what has been important to us when developing an online version, is the start-up cost for the user. The fact that you have to install software on your computer without knowing if it´s going to be as good as expected is a barrier for users. Getting the user to try your software, is just as difficult as making them use it. Focusing on just one of these issues is not enough. Online versions have an advantage when it comes to trying out the service.
For those who mostly work on a single task and would prefer to enter time at the end of the day I need to mention free online time tracker MrTickTock available at http://mrticktock.com (disclaimer: I’m an author). It is simple, fast and secure web based system to track employee time – good choice for freelancers and small companies.
MrTickTock is being actively developed so you can expect several new features (including vacation tracking) and improved UX in the nearest future.