Best way to keep track of hours?

[aggieair]

I often multitask and run more than one PhotoScan project.  I find it difficult to estimate the # of hours to complete a project (I don't count the actual processing time, just my interactive time).

Is there any tool/extension out there that will help me calculate my hours automatically?  Pen and paper is not cutting it.  Something if a window is front and active, a counter/tally will accumulate?  Then if it's in the background, it will not tally?  Mozilla Firefox has this for the internet usage.

Just curious how you might do that if you have to tally hours. 

[bigben]

http://www.fastcompany.com/3024249/10-time-tracking-apps-that-will-make-you-more-productive-in-2014

[aggieair]

Thanks Ben!  I did check those out before.

[bigben]

I don't actually use any of those, but that's mainly because I use Filemaker Pro for building our own workflow management tools so we just have a stop/start button that logs session times for each project.

It depends partly on why you need/want to track time.  If it's for billing then it should be a function of your job tracking/billing tools.

[aggieair]

That and also to be able to quote clients on how much it costs to do a project.  Everyone wants to know price per image or price per acreage/mileage, but I find it hard to know exactly how much time it takes as there are so may variables (plus I do more than one project at one time so I'm jumping all over the place so that I don't sit and stare at the processing bar).  I thought if I could create a database of how long it took to do a project at X AGL, X mileage or frames, I could get more of a range.

[bigben]

I work for a 2D scanning service in a uni and we have similar challenges.  It is not feasible or practical to provide a fixed pricing rate as the difficulties of handling of exceptions  can vary greatly. We provide costings based on the work proceeding without exceptions and include a proviso that additional work will cost a fixed hourly rate.  We can estimate the amount of work based on an inspection of the items... probably a bit harder with photogrammetry, although seeing photos of the area may provide insights into possible issues that could require more work. For us it's as much about determining our production capacity for projects as it is about recovering costs for our fee for service work.