Quick and easy work logging tools

A contract I’ve been working on the last few months requires careful time keeping and reporting. I’ve tried several tools, including both Web-based and local apps, and read through various suggestions from Om’s Web Worker Daily and elsewhere.

After lots of searching, I’ve settled on the simplest solution: A script described in a July Lifehacker post entitled “Quick-log your work day“. I’ve made a few simplifications for what I need from Cowboy_K’s QuickLogger Plus et voila, time tracking to automagically rotated log files. I normally write my own bash scripts and run them in Cygwin, but this little Visual Basic script does just what I need so why mess with a rewrite?

You might be asking “Why did you go the non-Web app route?”. Answer: I need to be able to log activities whether I have a net connection or not. For example, while working on a plane. Quick Logger Plus meets my needs, no muss no fuss, and its simple output is imminently parseable should I need to massage it into another format, post it online, or do some other kind of post-processing down the road.

Recommended.