Start by giving your work a shape.
In a spreadsheet a project is just a word in a column. In Dappleday it is a bucket, and inside it the branches you want to count: calls, thinking, design, development. Nest them as deep as you need. Every minute rolls up, so the small things finally add up to the big one. When plans change, move a branch, merge it into its parent or mark it done; its history goes with it.
Then move through it without friction.
The time on a bucket is its start button: one click and you are tracking. Start another one and the current session is wrapped up for you. Need something three levels deep? Just start typing, anywhere.
Catch what comes up mid-task.
A thought about another task should neither break your focus nor get lost. Press Shift twice, write it down, press Enter, and you are back to work. Each new day offers to clear what is left, so the list stays short.
Finish each session with a note, half-written for you.
When you stop the timer after a call, Dappleday suggests the meetings from your Google or Apple calendar in the last 40 minutes. One click adds the title and the people to the note. Inbox tasks and GitHub issues attach the same way.
Forgot the timer? Fix it afterwards.
Closing the tab does not stop tracking: come back and the session is still running. And if you forgot to press start, add the session later or correct its start and end to the minute. The balance of the day updates right away.
Know when to stop.
Set your work hours for each weekday. What is left of today shrinks while the timer runs. When it runs out, a notice appears with a sound of your choice, and overtime turns red, so a week with many projects does not quietly become a sixty-hour one.
Give each project a ceiling.
A cap says how much time a project deserves. You see what is left, a single signal sounds when it is reached, and the timer never stops you: the decision stays yours.
Step back and see the week.
The top of the screen is always your week: today in the middle, three days on each side. Each day shows where its time went, coloured by project, with your calendar meetings right underneath. Click any day to open the whole month.
At the end of the month, see where it all went.
Not another table: a report for any project or branch, a month in whole weeks with every day at a glance. Click a day to see each session with its notes, meetings and issues. On All buckets, choose which projects to include.