Timeular is one of the increasingly common productivity apps that help you with time management, and as I have been using it solidly since 2018, I figured I could give a full review.
At its core it consists of an eight sided dice, that you write your job or tasks on, then when you’re working, you flip it to that side, do your work and when done, you flip it to a different side and it logs the time you spent on each task.
I live on the damn thing.
It was a instant good fit for the way I do my work, particularly when I first started using it, I was a contractor with multiple clients, and while I was working for one client, I might take a phone call from another, and then finish that call and revert back to the previous client i was working on, this could happen with multiple “Time and material ” clients during a day.
At the end of the day, you can cut up what you did for your different tasks and fill in appropriate timesheets. Excellent for when you are working from home or remote and you’re not following a static 9 to 5.
Personally I find this an easy method of timekeeping and helps manage distractions. You may have taken a couple of meetings, then you can do the dishes. After that, you might have to take the dog for a walk. You can separate between housework and work 1, but at 5pm you can at a glance tell timewise if you have done a solid days work and if not you can correct and work later to make up 2.
Overall It takes a lot of the effort out of timekeeping in general and while originally obviously designed for freelancers, it is very adaptable to the new world of hybrid working for permies. In the app its self you’re supposed to fill in all the task details with little notes, and yes I have done it this way for a couple of clients who also used Timeular so they could see what I was doing, I normally don’t use it that way. I use it to give me nice blocks of time so I can work out how to fill in my notebooks at the end of the day, also to cross check and make sure that said notebooks are correct.
So far all has been perfect as described but it does have its downsides.. Well,.. that’s not entirely fair, it USED to have its downsides. When it first started years ago, its Bluetooth connection was appalling. The dice used expensive coin batteries like no ones business, it was non rechargeable. The app crashed. The connections didn’t drop well. A lot of failings.
But that’s where I feel it has stood the test of time. They have constantly improved, and over the years everything has been ironed out. The Bluetooth now is absolutely perfect. Not a single missed item. Its integration and stability is exceptionally good. They’ve changed the dice. It’s now rechargeable, and lasts for months on a single charge.
All this means that it’s now something that I would heartily recommend in all ways 3 .
Now, some people might think that you could just use a simple app timer with a start and stop. But that’s not how the human brain works, particularly when it’s busy. I find the big difference between Timeular and just about all the others is the physical act of turning the dice. It even allows you to have guilt free breaks from working. If you’re having a brain fart or someone sends you a particularly good video that you want to watch. You can just flip it on to blank and take your break guilt free, as you are not taking up a clients time.
Do I have any improvements to it? Yes, I would like a simple on off switch for the dice. I would like to be able to just drop it in a rucksack as I go, rather than having a bunfight with it to turn it off and then on again and re-pair, also personally I don’t used the pen and fancy stickers they supply, I just use a label printer as its much clearer. but that’s it.
Particularly in conjunction with other time management items. It really is something that I would not give up easily.
- this surprisingly makes sure that I pull my own weight with the household jobs as I know how much I have actually done in the home[↩]
- with a fringe benefit of helping to address procrastination[↩]
- Although you sometimes crack a grin at the fact its obviously still quite a small team, as they do the odd strange feature that they don’t quite get right.. the weekly goal setting for example does not work to my liking[↩]