Emacs org-mode

Emacs org-mode supports the complete workflow of

• capturing / note taking
• planning
• monitoring status of tasks and projects
  • add status like TODO, CANCELLED, HOLD, DONE
    (preset defined, but keywords can be customized very flexibly)
  • creating custom "agenda views" (e. g. todo or projects lists with subsets of your todos)
  • add start or deadline dates to your tasks
  • add tags to sort your tasks in addition to hierarchical outlining
• time tracking
  • easily clock-in to a task on your todo list (agenda) by Shift-I
• reporting / documentation

see:

• http://orgmode.org/features.html for a brief overview
• and e. g. Bernt Hansen's excellent tutorial Organize your life in plain text which describes his setup and workflows.
• or find more ressource here Org for GTD and other Task management systems

Advantages

• platform independent
• all features available with keyboard shortcuts
• very flexible and highly customizable
• supports complete workflow from brainstorming/note taking over planning/doing up to documentation and reporting
• actively developed with very supportive community

Disadvantages

• maybe difficult learning curve in the beginning, if you're not yet familiar with Emacs and its concepts

Clocking

With Emacs and org-mode, you can create tasks and clock in/clock out of them with a keyboard shortcut:

"Org-mode allows you to clock the time you spend on specific tasks in a project. When you start working on an item, you can start the clock. When you stop working on that task, or when you mark the task done, the clock is stopped and the corresponding time interval is recorded. It also computes the total time spent on each subtree of a project. And it remembers a history or tasks recently clocked, to that you can jump quickly between a number of tasks absorbing your time."

• From Org-mode Manual

Screenshot from orgmode.org:

Exporting

Emacs org-mode also has very flexible and powerful export capabilities (see http://orgmode.org/manual/Exporting.html ) which make it quite easy to create reports in other formats like plain text, html or pdf and share the data with other non-Emacs-users.

On Linux I would go with Project Hamster.

On Mac I am using timeEdition.

I know you don't want that, but I've been using a single worklog.txt file for years, and it works for me. It's easily searchable, and never grew big enough to make the text editor slow down. The file is always open all day, so I can add to it quickly.

After the first weeks, the formatting ended up like this:

2012-01-16
  30m : revised the CSS of the main page 20 minutes
  7.5h : new module for custumer support

2012-01-15
  4h : new module for custumer support
  4h : issue #3456 with newlines

I often throw in some notes about the topic I worked on. I rarely log times smaller than 30 minutes, and I sometimes skip writing status like 'done'. I prefer appending new stuff at the top of the file.

Every other day I also use the file to feed whatever time-tracking tool the management uses.

I am using RescueTime for time tracking. Check it out.

It eliminates the data entry portion of tracking which is such a time saver. It also generates weekly reports.

I recommend ManicTimer (http://www.manictime.com/) - as mentioned in the previous post -, too. The software logs the software and files you are currently using. Additionally you can tag your activities with project names.

Firstly you can try the Pomodoro Technique to manage your time, and secondly, you can use TeamViz (formerly known as "Pomodoro App") to track your tasks.

gnotime is a pretty decent GNOME/Linux solution for time tracking and journal keeping.

You have several options:

0 - See Zoho Calendar Zoho Calendar

1 - See this: WuNderList

2 - Use Zoho Projects starting at about twenty bucks/month: Zoho Projects

3 - Use a shared location where each employee can save a sheet containing the desired information and provide proper access rights

Don't forget to log the time it takes to log time :)

I make a time tracking program that is suitable to log your tasks (Windows only), it's called yaTimer

I'd look at something Autohotkey-esque like QuickLogger at http://quicklogger.com/?page_id=9 Also - autohotkey.com has some great scripts you can tweak without problems. The most important thing is that it's fast to use and not super complicated. Saves to a CSV so you can import it to a spreadsheet and calculate.

Don't overengineer this!

You could try Try Do Catch. It's a web application, so you need Internet Connection and a browser and it also has in its Android Client.

_{Disclaimer: I developed that website.}

On my last job I used a simple time tracker program which I annoyingly do not remeber the name of (and is currently searching for it again). It stored its information in text files (xml IIRC), had a list of the tasks you were working on where is kept track of time spent on the current task. The program was developed from approximately someone eastern Europe (Hungary or Polen maybe), and the author had given the program a name which ment work in a (slightly?) negative meaning. Anyone that could comment/update this answer with the proper name?

Update: I remembered the name of the tool: Rachota. It is a simple but highly useful portable java application.

I recommend you check TimeDoctor which can help you list your entire tasks for the day and tracks time accurately. It can also help you organize tasks depends on priority level or depends on what you desire to do. Using this tool it tracks effectively all of your activities in REAL TIME. This gives you a reading on exactly where you spent your time, and how much of that time was productive or unproductive.

It includes tracking all you computer activities from websites, applications, documents and etc. that has been actively being used and for how you have been using it. Using this tool is also a great way of keeping your focus, limits wasted time and boost productivity.

You may find further suggestions about tools to track tasks (Windows) at this page Windows Freeware/Shareware programs for tracking daily tasks? For now, the suggested tools are TSheets, Toodledo, Grindstone, ManicSoftware.