Subject: Re: [Time Sink Talk] So much potential... until you get to the reports

From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2015 09:14:28 -0700

On Mar 19, 2015, at 9:10 AM, dewluca <[email-masked]> wrote:

> My complaint is that the information I want to export is sitting there right on the screen . . . if it can be shown on the screen why can't it be exported?

To put it in somewhat stupid sounding terms: because it's not as simple as that.

> Sounds like there's no intention on fixing the exports to match what is on the screen . . . too bad . .

There's an intention; I said that a future version would have better exporting. What I didn't commit to was a timeframe for such improvements. One challenge: Time Sink cannot be sandboxed, so when we add that feature, it cannot be in the App Store at all. So we need to migrate App Store users to the direct version, and that's also a non-trivial thing to do.

So yes, we intend to improve reporting. But I can't say when, and when we do, all App Store users will have to switch to the direct version to get the improvements, thanks to Apple's sandboxing rules.

regards,
-rob.

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From: dewluca <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2015 09:10:06 -0700 (PDT)

Unfortunately I bought from the app store.

My complaint is that the information I want to export is sitting there 
right on the screen . . . if it can be shown on the screen why can't it be 
exported?
Seems stupid that I have to copy the information by hand . . .
I used it for a few weeks during Lent last year (?) and then decided I was 
wasting more time trying to document how I spent my time than it was worth.
Sounds like there's no intention on fixing the exports to match what is on 
the screen . . . too bad . . . with that it would be useful.

On Thursday, March 19, 2015 at 9:57:37 AM UTC-5, Many Tricks wrote:
>
> On Mar 19, 2015, at 7:13 AM, dewluca <[email-masked] <javascript:>> 
> wrote: 
>
> > I totally agree with this comment.  I stopped using the app because the 
> exported data wasn't useable. 
> > If all you intend it for is as a cute onscreen record of time spent, 
> perhaps make it clear that the exported data is not what is seen on the 
> screen. 
> > I'll check out Paymo to see if it would do what I need. 
>
> We offer free trials of all our apps, so a potential customer can see 
> whether it meets their needs or not. We also offer a 60-day money back 
> guarantee on every purchase. (Note that we can't offer either of those 
> things in the App Store, so this only applies to copies purchased directly 
> from us. But anyone can try the version from our site, then decide to buy 
> from the App Store if they prefer.) 
>
> As for better export, yes, we know it can be greatly improved. But the $5 
> version of Time Sink was intended as a hobbyist's tool, not a professional 
> time tracker. To be honest, we're not sure there's a lot of demand for a 
> $20+ time tracker with complex and powerful reporting and exporting 
> capabilities. There may be, but we don't know ... and it's an expensive 
> time investment bet on our part to assume that we'll sell enough to cover 
> the development time. 
>
> So if we were to do a Time Sink Pro, it would definitely have stronger 
> export and reporting capabilities. And even the $5 version will probably 
> have a better export tool in a future version ... but for now, what we have 
> is what we have. 
>
> regards, 
> -rob.

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From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2015 07:57:35 -0700

On Mar 19, 2015, at 7:13 AM, dewluca <[email-masked]> wrote:

> I totally agree with this comment.  I stopped using the app because the exported data wasn't useable.
> If all you intend it for is as a cute onscreen record of time spent, perhaps make it clear that the exported data is not what is seen on the screen.

We offer free trials of all our apps, so a potential customer can see whether it meets their needs or not. We also offer a 60-day money back guarantee on every purchase. (Note that we can't offer either of those things in the App Store, so this only applies to copies purchased directly from us. But anyone can try the version from our site, then decide to buy from the App Store if they prefer.)

As for better export, yes, we know it can be greatly improved. But the $5 version of Time Sink was intended as a hobbyist's tool, not a professional time tracker. To be honest, we're not sure there's a lot of demand for a $20+ time tracker with complex and powerful reporting and exporting capabilities. There may be, but we don't know ... and it's an expensive time investment bet on our part to assume that we'll sell enough to cover the development time.

So if we were to do a Time Sink Pro, it would definitely have stronger export and reporting capabilities. And even the $5 version will probably have a better export tool in a future version ... but for now, what we have is what we have.

regards,
-rob.

---

From: dewluca <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2015 07:13:10 -0700 (PDT)

On Friday, March 13, 2015 at 6:27:36 PM UTC-5, Daniel Faria wrote:
>
> This application has a lot of potential... You guys made time tracking 
> extremely ease and fast to use,  but reading the actual data extremely hard.
>
> It would be great if:
>
> 1. There was a report window to see totals of selected applications. Using 
> a pool is not always ideal. As a developer I switch between many different 
> applications and tabs all day long. I don't work just in one project each 
> day. I typically work on 4 to 5 projects a day. I would spend tons of time 
> just dragging windows to a pool.
>
> A more comprehensive report window is needed to:
>
> A. Select the timers you want to add together
> B. Get the totals for the selected timers
> C. Get the totals broken down per day/week/month
> D. Be able to view previous time broken down by day/week/month
> E. Not have to manually pick day and hour range, which is a extremely slow 
> approach to people how are trying to save time
>
>
> 2. It would be great if the data from previous days was saved (without 
> having to export to another application each day). Since the data is being 
> saved, then the timer can be reset each day automatically.
>
> Before trying Time Sink I was using paymoplus. Paymo does a lot more than 
> time tracking, but they have an app that does pretty much of Time Sink 
> does. I thought I would give Time Sink a try because it does only time 
> tracking. I don't need all the other stuff that comes with Paymo.
>
> My ultimate goal is to:
>
> 1. Track my time automatically used in which application/window. This you 
> do really well.
> 2. At the end of the day/week get the totals and enter it in another 
> application. This is where I think the application fails to deliver.
>
>

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From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2015 16:36:51 -0700

On Mar 10, 2015, at 3:43 PM, Daniel Faria <[email-masked]> wrote:

> This application has a lot of potential... You guys made time tracking extremely ease and fast to use,  but reading the actual data extremely hard.

We know the reporting is weak -- there's only so much time we could invest in a $5 app, and reporting is a complex subject (as noted by your suggestions, there's a ton we could do).

Thanks for the suggestions; I've added them to our working list of possible future Time Sink features. We don't have an ETA, though, so I can't say if/when you'll see the features implemented. I do know that if we make a really robust reporting system, we'll probably be selling Time Sink for more than we presently charge.

> 1. Track my time automatically used in which application/window. This you do really well.
> 2. At the end of the day/week get the totals and enter it in another application. This is where I think the application fails to deliver.

I agree, and we'd like to improve the reporting in the next version ... I don't know how much of your list it will hit, but we'll do our best to make it match the tracking's capabilities.

regards,
-rob.

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From: Daniel Faria <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2015 15:43:18 -0700 (PDT)

It would be great if:

My ultimate goal is to: