I wrote a simple text parser which understands semi-free text like
2013-10-17
10:00
$P_1$ +30m reading lesswrong
$A_1$ +1h project A: implementing feature 1
includes discussion with Pete
12:00
-15m lunch break
+15m dicussion about new feature 2
This allows me to take notes with extremely low overhead. I just switch to my programmers editor and write down a few more lines. No opening window, not clicking or tabbing thru redundant fields.
And I can do so incrementally. The $P_1: token assigns the cost center and I usually assign these at some later time batching related items quickly and possibly creating the cost centers after the fact - which is usual at the beginning of a project. The cost token is looked up via a comparable file describing the hierarchical structure of cost centers.
When I started this it was intended to just track time for myself, but it developed into a tool which can push the data into Jira (via REST) and Kimai (via SQL) and export selected sub hierarchies as TeX reports for invoices.
But it is still a simplistic undocumented CLI tool run from my IDE with lots of idiosyncrasies, so I wouldn't recommend it for anybody else.
I believe that it (i.e. the use of plaintext) is a lot more efficient and powerful than a spreadsheet.
I currently log the total number of hours I work each day in an OpenOffice Spreadsheet. I input the start time, lunch/break time, and end time, and it calculates the total hours worked. I'm not savvy enough to create this type of spreadsheet myself, so I looked through a large number of templates online before finding one that works as I've described above. I'm still not crazy about the way that this spreadsheet is laid out.
If you can link to a spreadsheet available for download similar to the one described above, please do so in the comments.
If you use time-logging for various distinct projects throughout the day, please describe this process and link to the software you use (if possible).
More of a meta-discussion: how time-logging this enhanced your performance or time management?, for what types of projects/activities is it best to time-log?, general comments about the idea