TimeDoctor Review: Creepy But Productive

Posted: April 4th, 2012 | Author: Natasha Murashev | Filed under: review | Tags: , , | 10 Comments »

I have mixed feelings about TimeDoctor. For those of you who are not familiar, TimeDoctor times everything you’re working on, alerts you when you’re looking at Facebook during work, and even takes screenshots of your screen. If you’re thinking this is pretty creepy, you’re not alone.

That’s exactly what I thought about TimeDoctor when I first heard about it. I would HATE to work at a place that took screenshots of my work and made me time every single thing I did…


However, a few weeks ago, I wanted to see how much time I spent on my daily tasks, so I decided to try out the TimeDoctor solo plan. Keep in mind that I tried this for myself – I wasn’t forced to do this by any manager or anything. And for that, I find TimeDoctor to be extremely useful.

Once you sign up, you can download the TimeDoctor app for your Mac or PC, and as you’re working on tasks, you simply time yourself. TimeDoctor also constantly reminds you to keep working. Every time you come back form a break, it pops up with your tasks. And every time I get distracted by Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube, it double checks that I’m working.

Now, I can go into TimeDoctor and see how many hours per day I actually work. This has been extremely insightful (hint: I get distracted easily) and I’m now feeling more productive thanks to TimeDoctor.

Again, I want to re-iterate that I’d HATE to be forced to use TimeDoctor by a boss, but for personal use, TimeDoctor is great.

Have you tried TimeDoctor? What did you think?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1152676429 Katia S. Jackson

    Will give it a shot tomorrow!

  • Razvan Rogoz

    I totally agree.

    I’m using Time Doctor to manage myself. I’m using it mostly to single task and to make sure I stack on track as a freelancer but I’d hate to have anyone else use it on me.

    This is the reason why I’ve abandoned Basecamp too. Good project management utility, but I was not comfortable to update my every task, write my every thought and give permission to everyone who wanted this.

    After the trial is over, I’m going to buy time doctor. In combination with GoalScape for project management and GTD for keeping the mental inbox empty, it’s a great tool.

  • Yvette Divino

    We’ll begin using this. I’m not sure if it will works good on me, hope it will.

  • http://www.janemassengill.com/ Jane Massengill

    I’m an ADD Coach so I’m very appreciative of your review. I think it will help a lot of my clients monitor themselves, especially those who are self-employed or college students. I’ve been looking for something like this and am looking forward to giving it a try.

  • Balangay12

    I think the Screen shot thing should be removed because I have some usernames+paswords in my note and everytime I need to log in on different sites I have to open that and It may screenshot them which against on my privacy..

  • Reotorregosa

    How is time doctor different from the ODesk Teamroom?

  • lorie

    Do I get notified everytime they take a screenshot?

  • http://reorg.co Natasha Murashev

    I don’t think so. They take a lot of screenshots, so that would be pretty annoying…

  • http://www.facebook.com/ruslan.sudentas Ruslan Sudentas

    TimeDoctor is a very comprehensive product, but a bit too complex with a stronger focus on project management than on time tracking. It starts from $10 per user. Try a free version of ScreenshotMonitor instead – it beautiful and easy to use.

  • http://twitter.com/Tech_NO_Babble Alex Molitor

    If you are truly worried about client usernames/passwords, they should not be on your PC in clear text. There are password keepers that can help you manage your passwords safely.