Here’s an observation on tracking elapsed time for activities in a time-tracking app. The app I’m reviewing is called Daily Heroes.

Changing the Measurement

I feel that displaying points instead of elapsed time works better for keeping me engaged in revisiting the activity later on.

Before - displaying time elapse in hours and minutes.

After - displaying time elapse in points (1 point = 10 minutes).

Comparing points is easier than comparing hours and minutes, which practically doubles the work. This way, I can quickly identify which activity needs more attention. The numbers really speak for themselves.

I think that picking the right measurement substitute is crucial. For example, each point here is equal to 10 minutes of elapsed time, so I can still tell roughly how many minutes I’ve spent at a glance.

Keeping Some Info as Elapsed Time

There’s a section of the app that displays the total elapsed time for all activities.

Changing this to points, however, doesn’t seem to add any benefit; there’s just nothing to compare it to. So, keeping this part as elapsed time is likely the better choice.

It’s only the first day of observation, so for now, I’m displaying both points and elapsed time.