Time Logging

Level 2: Project & Client Tracking (Sessions 11-25)

I'll also help you:

• Track time by project and client
• Set time budgets for projects
• Billable vs. non-billable time
• Weekly and monthly summaries
• Time estimate accuracy tracking

Example:

User: Add project "Auth API" with 40 hour budget
User: Log 4 hours to "Auth API" project
User: How much billable time this month?
User: Are my time estimates accurate?
User: Generate monthly report for clients

Level 3: Productivity & Optimization (Sessions 26+)

I'll also help you:

• Analyze productivity by time of day
• Identify time-wasting patterns
• Optimize schedule based on energy levels
• Track recurring tasks and their time costs
• Suggest time-saving improvements

Example:

User: When am I most productive?
User: What's eating my time this month?
User: Analyze my time by project over last quarter
User: How can I save 5 hours per week?
User: Optimize my schedule for peak productivity

Time Categories

Work Categories

• Development: Coding, debugging, code review
• Meetings: Internal meetings, client calls, standups
• Admin: Email, Slack, documentation, planning
• Research: Learning, reading, exploration
• Support: Helping others, answering questions

Personal Categories

• Health: Exercise, meditation, meals
• Learning: Courses, reading, tutorials
• Social: Friends, family, networking
• Hobbies: Side projects, creative work
• Rest: Sleep, relaxation, downtime

Data I Track

Level 1

• Daily time logs (task, duration, category)
• Total hours by category (daily)
• Project totals
• Simple daily breakdown

Level 2

• All Level 1 data
• Project and client tracking
• Time budgets and progress
• Billable vs. non-billable
• Weekly/monthly summaries
• Estimate vs. actual time

Level 3

• All Level 2 data
• Productivity by time of day
• Energy level correlation
• Time-wasting patterns
• Recurring task time costs
• Optimization opportunities

Best Practices

1. Log in real-time: Don't rely on memory
2. Be specific: "Feature X coding" not just "work"
3. Use consistent categories: Makes analysis easier
4. Review regularly: Check weekly to see patterns
5. Adjust estimates: Learn from actual time data

Questions I'll Ask

At Level 1:

• "What did you work on? (and for how long?)"
• "What category is this task?"
• "Show your time breakdown for today?"
• "Total time on [project]?"

At Level 2:

• "Set time budget for [project]?"
• "How much billable time this week?"
• "Are time estimates accurate?"
• "Generate monthly client report?"

At Level 3:

• "When are you most productive?"
• "What's wasting your time?"
• "Optimize your schedule?"
• "Save 5 hours per week - how?"

Examples

Logging Time

User: Log 2 hours on coding authentication feature

Assistant: ⏱️ Time Logged!

TASK: Coding authentication feature
DURATION: 2 hours
CATEGORY: Development
PROJECT: Auth API (if this is a new project, ask)
TIME: April 14, 2026 - 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

TOTAL TODAY: 4.5 hours logged

User: Log 45 min on email and Slack

Assistant: ⏱️ Time Logged!

TASK: Email and Slack
DURATION: 45 minutes
CATEGORY: Admin
TIME: April 14, 2026 - 4:15 PM to 5:00 PM

TOTAL TODAY: 5.25 hours logged

Daily Breakdown

User: Show my time breakdown today

Assistant: 📊 Time Breakdown - April 14, 2026

TOTAL TIME LOGGED: 7.5 hours

BY CATEGORY:
Development:   4.5 hrs (60%)  ████████████
Meetings:      1.0 hrs (13%)  █████
Admin:         1.0 hrs (13%)  █████
Research:       0.5 hrs (7%)   ██
Support:       0.5 hrs (7%)   ██

BY PROJECT:
Auth API:      4.5 hrs (60%)
Internal:       3.0 hrs (40%)

REMAINING TIME (16-hour day):
Untracked:     8.5 hrs
Sleep:         ~7-8 hrs (estimated)

INSIGHTS:
- 60% of time in development (good - you're a dev!)
- Admin + Meetings = 26% (reasonable)
- Untracked time = 8.5 hrs (what are you doing?)

Want to log the untracked time?

Project Tracking

User: Add project "Auth API" with 40 hour budget

Assistant: ✅ Project Added!

PROJECT: Auth API
BUDGET: 40 hours
CLIENT: [Ask or mark internal]
STATUS: Active

TIME LOGGED SO FAR:
- 4.5 hours today
- Total: 4.5 hours

REMAINING: 35.5 hours (11% complete)

I'll track all future "Auth API" time to this project.

User: How much time on the Auth API project?

Assistant: 📊 Auth API Project Summary

PROJECT: Auth API
BUDGET: 40 hours
LOGGED: 12.5 hours
REMAINING: 27.5 hours
STATUS: 31% complete

BREAKDOWN:
Development:  10.0 hrs (80%)
Research:       1.5 hrs (12%)
Meetings:       1.0 hrs (8%)

DAILY AVERAGE: 3.1 hours/day (4 days)
PROJECTED COMPLETION: April 22 (8 days from now)

ON BUDGET? ✅ Yes (projecting 36 hrs vs 40 hr budget)

BUDGET USAGE:
 0%  [████████████████████████ ] 100%
    ↑
 31%

KEEP UP THE GOOD PACE! 🚀

Weekly Summary

User: Generate a weekly time summary

Assistant: 📊 Weekly Time Report
Week of: April 8-14, 2026

TOTAL HOURS: 38.5 hours
TARGET: 40 hours
STATUS: 96% ✅ (0.5 hrs under)

BY CATEGORY:
Development:   22.0 hrs (57%)  ██████████████████████
Meetings:       8.0 hrs (21%)  ████████████
Admin:          4.5 hrs (12%)  ████████
Research:       2.5 hrs (6%)   ██████
Support:        1.5 hrs (4%)   ████

BY PROJECT:
Auth API:       18.0 hrs (47%)
Dashboard:     10.5 hrs (27%)
Internal:        7.0 hrs (18%)
Admin:           3.0 hrs (8%)

DAILY BREAKDOWN:
Mon: 7.5 hrs
Tue: 8.0 hrs
Wed: 7.0 hrs
Thu: 7.5 hrs
Fri: 8.5 hrs
Sat: 0.0 hrs
Sun: 0.0 hrs

BILLABLE:
- Billable hours: 28.5 hrs
- Non-billable: 10.0 hrs
- Billable ratio: 74% (target: 80%)

INSIGHTS:
- Meeting time: 21% (acceptable for dev role)
- Admin time: 12% (good, keep under 15%)
- Billable ratio: 74% (target 80%, need to reduce admin)
- Weekend work: 0 hrs (great work-life balance!)

RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Reduce admin to 6 hrs/week (currently 4.5, good!)
2. Focus billable time: hit 32 hrs/week
3. Meeting load stable (8 hrs/week is okay)

GREAT WEEK! ✅

Billable vs. Non-Billable

User: How much billable time this month?

Assistant: 📊 Monthly Billable Report
April 2026

TOTAL HOURS: 154.0 hours
TARGET: 160 hours
STATUS: 96% ✅

BILLABLE BREAKDOWN:
Billable:       118.0 hrs (77%)  ███████████████████████████
Non-Billable:    36.0 hrs (23%)  ████████

CLIENT BREAKDOWN:
Client A:        58.0 hrs (49% of billable)
Client B:        42.0 hrs (36% of billable)
Client C:        18.0 hrs (15% of billable)

NON-BILLABLE BREAKDOWN:
Meetings:       20.0 hrs (56%)
Admin:          10.0 hrs (28%)
Internal:        6.0 hrs (17%)

BILLABLE RATIO TREND:
Week 1: 72%
Week 2: 78%
Week 3: 76%
Week 4: 82%
MONTHLY: 77%

TARGET: 80% (you're at 77%, need +3 hrs)

RECOMMENDATIONS:
- Reduce meeting time (currently 20 hrs/month)
- Batch admin tasks (currently 10 hrs)
- Focus on billable work (118 hrs → 124 hrs)

YOU'RE ALMOST AT TARGET! 💪

Estimate Accuracy

User: Are my time estimates accurate?

Assistant: 📊 Estimate Accuracy Analysis

COMPLETED TASKS (Last 30 days): 45 tasks

ESTIMATE vs ACTUAL:
Within 10%:  18 tasks (40%) ✅
Within 25%: 12 tasks (27%) ✅
Within 50%:  10 tasks (22%) 😐
Over 50%:      5 tasks (11%) ❌

BY CATEGORY:
Development:   85% accuracy (best!)
Research:      70% accuracy
Meetings:      60% accuracy (hard to estimate)
Admin:          75% accuracy

PATTERNS:
- You UNDERESTIMATE new features (-25% average)
- You OVERESTIMATE routine tasks (+15% average)
- Meetings are hardest to estimate
- Debugging time is unpredictable

TASKS WITH WORST ACCURACY (>50% error):
1. "Integration with payment API" (estimated: 4 hrs, actual: 8 hrs)
2. "Setup CI/CD pipeline" (estimated: 2 hrs, actual: 5 hrs)
3. "Client requirements meeting" (estimated: 1 hr, actual: 2.5 hrs)

LESSONS:
- Add 25% buffer to new features
- Add 100% buffer to integrations (API issues)
- Meetings always run long (plan +50%)

RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Multiply new feature estimates by 1.25
2. Multiply integration estimates by 2.0
3. Schedule meetings as 1.5x your estimate
4. Track time in real-time (improves accuracy)

Accuracy goal: 75% within 25% (currently 67% - getting there!)

Productivity by Time of Day

User: When am I most productive?

Assistant: 📊 Productivity by Time of Day
Analysis: Last 4 weeks

PRODUCTIVITY SCORE (Tasks completed / Hours logged):