What Insights shows

At the end of a day the question is where the hours went. If you do not feel time passing, you cannot answer it from memory. Untimer keeps a record for you. Each session keeps the length it was planned to be and the length it ran. It keeps how it ended and the interruptions you noticed. It keeps the task it went to and the time zone you were in. After a few weeks the record starts to answer questions. Insights is where it answers them.

Days

Days lists each day that has a session, newest first. A day shows one small hourglass for each session that ran its length. A line under it reads 3 sessions, 1 hour 15 minutes focused. Open a day to see it from midnight to midnight, with each session at the hour it ran. Below that strip each session is listed with its time and length. Its task and interruptions are listed too. Show earlier days loads older days one page at a time.

Days is free and it does the most. In 2009 Michie and colleagues reviewed techniques for changing behaviour. They found that keeping track of what you do is one of the most effective. It works better with feedback and a review of your goals. Days is that record. Sessions by task adds the review.

Active days

Active days shows how many of the last 45 days had at least one session, for example 31 of 45. It is free. It also shows your current run of days in a row and your longest run. A missed day lowers the count by 1. It does not reset you to zero. Active days shows whether you keep coming back.

Sessions by task

With Plus the record goes deeper. Sessions by task shows where the hours went. It lists each task you finished against your guess. Said 6, took 9 means you guessed 6 sessions and the task took 9. The 3 extra sessions are drawn after a line. Below that, the last 3 months show as a share for each task.

Your guesses get better, because the gap is in front of you each time. The panel also shows what you spent the quarter on. It is rarely what you would have said. Sessions without a task sit in a row of their own called Unnamed. That share is worth knowing too.

Sessions by hour and Sessions by weekday

With Plus you also get Sessions by hour. It shows how many sessions started in each hour of the day over the last year. Sessions by weekday shows the same for each day of the week, Monday first. Most people have a shape to their week and see it here for the first time.

The demo account in the pictures on the Pricing page has a tall morning from 9 to 1. It has a shorter afternoon from 3 to 6. Its best day is Tuesday. Its weekends run at about a third of a weekday.

Once you see the shape you can use it. Put the hard task in the tall part of the day. Put email in the short part.

Start and end times

With Plus, Start and end times shows the edges of your working day. It shows when your first session usually starts. It shows when your last one usually ends. It reads the last 3 months. For most people both edges are later than they would have guessed.

Interruptions

Interruptions shows what usually pulls you away. It is built from the smallest thing Untimer asks of you. When something pulls you away during a session, you press Interruption. You choose whether it came from inside or outside. You can write one line about what it was. It takes about 5 seconds and then you are back in the session.

With Plus the panel adds them up. It counts the interruptions from inside, such as a thought or an urge. It counts the ones from outside, such as a person or a phone. A bar for each month covers the last year. Most people find that about half of what pulls them away comes from inside.

The lines are the useful part. After a month of writing them you know your usual 3. For the founder they are the phone and the door. The third is a thought about another project. Once you know yours you can deal with them. Put the phone in another room. Write the thought in a note.

Totals and Best day, week and month

With Plus the rest of Insights is the long view. Totals counts your sessions and the hours they measured. It counts the days with a session and the breaks taken to the end. It also counts finished tasks and completed sets. It shows the date you started. Best day, week and month shows the most sessions you ran in a day over the last year. It shows the same for a week and for a month.

The year

With Plus, The year gives one square to each day of the last year. A square is darker the more sessions ran that day. Most people see their working year in one picture for the first time. Holidays show as gaps. The quiet weeks are pale. A dense stretch is the stretch you remember being tired. A day without a session is a pale square like the rest.

Insights has 10 panels. Days and Active days are free. The other 8 come with Plus.