Time tracking blog

Michael Hunger was searching for a way to track his day.  He finds that task tedious and inconvenient.  Some of his suggested time tracking methods came in the form of software:

• Spreadsheets
• Plain text files
• Browser based time tracking
• Outlook/iCal
• Popup applications/widgets asking for the current task (hmmm…has he not yet found TSheets?)

And others in the form of the physical:

• Sticky Notes
• Paper
• Tally sheets
• Notebook
• Diary/filofax

All are ok solutions.  Naturally, we’re a bit preferential to the application/widget genre, but let’s hear the man out.

What Michael stumbled upon in his daily ‘blue hour’ (time he spends reading in a café before work) is a childhood toy that we all know: Lego.  He quickly realized that events in iCal look remarkably like building blocks of time.  The transition from playing with his daughters legos to iCal’s block of time to Lego as time tracker is simply genius.

With a box of 600 legos purchased from Amazon, Michael set out to track his day in a colorful desktop form.  What he found was that there was a wide variety in color, length, and width of the 600 pieces.  By using the ‘one row’ blocks, Michael builds he day (literally) by segmenting 1, 2, 3, and 4 studded pieces to represent 15 minute blocks of time, 15, 30, 45, and 60 minutes.  By stacking these individual blocks of time on top of each other, he builds a project (color) coded map of his time throughout the day.

Using a ‘one row’ piece to represent the day, Michael lays bricks on top of this ‘day ruler’ so that he can see what he did, and where in his day he did it.  Each day of the week is then coded by a rainbow color scheme.  Red, orange, yellow, green, and blue represent Monday – Friday.  At weeks end, he then uses his lego blocks to enter the data in a timesheet software package.

Michael has found that by using the Lego time tracking system, he can even pre-plan days by using temporary bases and allotting time via the same color coded method.  Benefits include (in Michael’s own words):

• it works (for about 4 months now)
• I have something to play with while pondering stuff
• it looks great
• it’s incredibly fast with no overhead
• planning is possible

He is however quick to point on the one disadvantage:

coworkers coming to your place and disassembling your time tracks

He’s recently updated the original post with an announcement of a small java application that will work in conjunction with a webcam or phone so that the time block is automatically entered in the week’s end timesheet.

This is a fine example of independent ingenuity when it comes to personal time tracking.  Certainly this will work while sitting in a closed environment (read…office), but has little practical application in the mobile work.  You might be hard pressed to pull out your Lego block set while sitting in economy on the next flight to Atlanta.  The Lego system can and will only work for personal time tracking, as just with the time clock or paper and pencil sheets, there are almost certainly time fudgers that would take advantage of the system.

As always, TSheets remains your one stop, easy to use, corporate wide time tracking solution. With widgets, gadgets, and iPhone apps, we’ve got more ways to track time than hours in the day!

Now….off to the TLabs to talk to the Time Scientists about the Lego app integration….

Howdy there partner, and welcome to the newly redesigned TSheets!  If you’re a first time visitor, welcome – if you’re a returning reader, welcome back.  You may have noticed that TSheets has a shiny new coat of paint, and a few extra goodies under the hood as well.  In celebration of our new look, I thought it might be a good time to hit the wayback machine and take a look at where TSheets has been design wise.  All images are taken from the great tool available at archive.org, the waybackmachine.

While the waybackmachine does give some listings for TSheets as early back as 2004, these are not found in the archive, and I can only wonder if the URL was held by a previous owner?  Let’s see if we can get a comment from Brandon or Matt on this one.

Either way, the first archived listing for TSheets.com shows up on June 16th, 2006 with a simple yet effective interface:

Note the savings calculator over on the left side?  Pretty nifty device.

On August 11th, 2006 the TNumber was added to the site providing a toll free number for business owners to get in touch with the TTeam at.

On September 29th, 2006 the monthly pricing box disappears to be replaced by a small text box at the top of the page.  Same overall design is still functioning well, and driving both traffic and customers to the TSheets time tracking system.



2007 was a great year both in product and website development here at TSheets.  On the 5th of January we started adding a news feature down the left column, keeping potential and current customers abreast of what was happening in the now developing TLabs.

February 12th – meh…let’s move that news over to the right side.

March 10th, 2007 – how about a little php, tables, and a nice pleasing blue background?



August 13th, 2007 – wha blamo!  The TSheets as we know and love today begins to take it’s first form.  While the graphics are missing from archive.org, you get the general gist of things here with clear and easy navigation begin to come to the forefront.



Here’s where things start to get a bit fuzzy on archive.org, but the August 13th version of TSheets.com served us well until making the switch to a highly modified Wordpress installation courtesy of Mr. Matt Newbill.



As our user base and media coverage begins/began to grow, CEO Matt Rissell thought it might be a good time to add a new coat of wax to the TMachine and include some new advancements in coding language.

In regard to building a new version of TSheets, our top dog of the code, Matt Newbill says, “Well as you can see the site (and blog) have been entirely rebuilt from the ground up.”

If you’re looking at that super slick rotating image staring you in the face, Newbill adds, “We’re utilizing JQuery to do our sliding effects and also some cool IE 6 transparent PNG trickery via CSS”

Newbill and design team made sure to give a nod to the old school and included a portion of the first TSheets logo.

Director of Marketing AJ Stallones adds, “I think looks sweet and I absolutely love the emotion that it brings to the table.  It’s sexy, slim, easy to use and truly screams the essence of our culture.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.  I hope you’ll all join me in a tiny little bit of horn blowing and congratulations to Newbill and team when I say, “Job well done sir! Well done indeed!”