RescueTime

Full Review

Using RescueTime is incredibly simple. I went to the website and watched a short video clip showing exactly how it works. I then browsed the site for a couple minutes, read the FAQs, downloaded the application, and created an account - all in less than 5 minutes.

It's a pretty simple concept. RescueTime's background application is constantly running, and tracks the window of focus. So if you're using Photoshop, the app will track that. If you're browsing the web and have 20 tabs open, the app will track which tab you're currently using. Every few seconds the time tracking software refreshes, and every 30 minutes the collected data is uploaded to RescueTime's servers. If you don't use your computer for 2 minutes or more, recording is automatically paused.

The service is based on the cloud, and requires no hard drive space outside the 6MB application. Once you start using the service, you can quickly access the online dashboard, where RescueTime provides a summary of your time as well as detailed analytics. One of the neat features is that RescueTime has access to a huge pool of national data, so you can compare how productive you are in comparison to others.

Since the definition of what is ‘productive' varies greatly by profession, RescueTime allows users to label how productive or distracting every application is. If you don't want RescueTime to record for a while, you can manually pause it with a couple clicks. And when I came back from sushi, there was a RescueTime popup on my screen asking me what I was doing. Admittedly that sounds a little "big brother", but it's actually very useful. I had the option to say I was at a meeting, on a phone call, or just tell RescueTime not to track the past hour. Basically, what RescueTime measures isn't solely limited to computer time.

The real added value of this product is team implementation. Companies, as the site explains, often lose profit because they aren't utilizing human capital effectively. If you're managing 100 employees, it's pretty damn hard for you to be looking at all of their computer screens all the time (and it probably should never be like that anyways).

RescueTime comes in two versions for teams - restricted and open. In restricted mode, managers are the only one who can see the data. RescueTime labels it as "a business intelligence tool which keeps managers informed of their most critical resource."

That being said, RescueTime clearly favors open mode. In open mode, workers can not only see their own efficiency, but the efficiency of fellow colleagues (in the most open setting). Imagine you're working and then you see this report that tells you're hours less productive every week than most of your colleagues. Generally, that's much better motivation to pick up the intensity then being yelled at by your boss.

Managers, with team edition, can see who's working hard, who's underperforming, and who might want to do more but just can't bring it up. The overall team, with increased and accurate transparency, is generally more motivated to work harder. RescueTime is good small business software, but it's scalable too.

RescueTime is priced competitively with what's out there. The entry-level option, Solo lite, is free but has minimal features and stops storing your data after two months. Solo Pro ranges between $6-9 a month, and has the complete feature set. The team edition maxes out at $15 a month, but scales down. Alternatives include Slife, TimeSnapper, and TimeCamp.

The Bottom Line

While writing this review, I've checked my email half a dozen times, gotten up to talk to a couple people, and instant messaged a friend. And I don't think I'm alone - almost all of us waste time throughout the day. RescueTime is a lightweight but comprehensive attempt to solve that problem. Just knowing how you use your time, especially in comparison to how coworkers utilize time, is huge. RescueTime is almost completely cloud based, save the small tracking application, and literally can be set up in minutes.

Say an employee is worth $10 an hour (definitely an underestimation) Even if RescueTime only increases a worker's productivity by 30 minutes a week, you're still increasing profits by $25/worker/month accounting for the service fee.

RescueTime is a no-brainer.

Print this