Skip to main content

Track and rate focused work

Lotti records focused work as timed journal entries. Start a timer from the entry or task that owns the work so its duration and context stay together. When the session ends, you can add a structured rating while the experience is still fresh.

The Project Waddle example rates a 23-minute emperor-penguin roll-call rehearsal. The rating sheet shown here is the production interface over that real time entry, not a documentation mock-up.

All screenshots
The three bars are continuous scales. Challenge uses explicit choices, and Save becomes available only after every dimension has an answer.
ScreenshotMobile view
Session rating sheet over a Project Waddle time entry with productivity, energy, focus, challenge, and a Mission Control note

Record time in the right context​

Open an entry or task and use its timer action. A timer created from a task or another journal entry is linked back to that source, so the surrounding work remains visible in linked activity. The duration updates while recording and the stop action closes the session on the same time entry.

Use one timer for one coherent stretch of work. If the purpose changes—from habitat inspection to sardine diplomacy, for example—stop the current timer and start another under the correct task or category. This keeps both the entry history and Time Analysis meaningful.

Rate a completed session​

After a recording of at least one minute ends, Lotti shows a star prompt beside the duration. It pulses briefly and then remains available until you save a rating or restart the recording. For a timer shown inside linked activity, the entry action menu also offers Rate session or View rating.

The session catalog asks four questions:

  • Productivity is a continuous scale from unproductive to peak productivity.
  • Energy runs from drained to fully energized.
  • Focus runs from constant distraction to uninterrupted focus.
  • This work felt… records Too easy, Just right, or Too challenging. Just right represents the intended challenge/skill balance.

Drag or select anywhere on a continuous bar; values are not restricted to the visible tick marks. Add an optional note for context that the numbers cannot carry. Save stays disabled until all four answers are present. Skip closes the sheet without writing a rating.

Review and revise a rating​

A saved rating is stored as its own journal entry and linked to the time entry it describes. Reopen View rating to change the answers or note. The saved summary retains the question and option wording used at the time, so synced ratings remain understandable even if the catalog changes later.

Session ratings are available when the Session ratings configuration flag is enabled. A client that receives a rating catalog it does not recognize can still display the stored answers, but it keeps that rating read-only rather than guessing how to edit unfamiliar data.

Use ratings as observations, not grades​

The four dimensions describe one session, not personal performance. A low energy score can explain why otherwise useful work felt difficult; a high focus score paired with Too easy may suggest the next session needs a more ambitious scope. Notes are especially useful for anomalies such as an airborne sardine, an interruption, or an unusually smooth Mission Control briefing.

Ratings complement duration rather than changing it. The timer remains the source for how long the work took, while the rating records how that time felt.