TimmyOnTime – Time Management via Instant Messenger

I am pretty sure the one tool I would not give up these days would be Instant Messenger. All of my closest business partners and customers are on either GTalk or MSN (with GTalk being far and away a more work-related buddy list). I take IM with me everywhere, on my iPhone, using meebo if I am on another computer, it’s just one of those things that I stay connected to as much as possible.

When I started using Twitter, it was their instant messenger integration that really got me hooked, and I have always flirted with the business models around instant messenger bots. It seems though, that few useful applications show up for instant messengers, and IM in general is still not seen as a viable platform for applications.

I think that assumption is flawed, and that’s why I was excited to hear about TimmyOnTime, a work time-tracking application that you use through your instant messenger. You can connect via AIM, MSN or GTalk/Jabber.

Basically, TimmyOnTime allows you to create, by sending a message, a Project. Each project then has Tasks, which you define, and for each task you can “check in” and “check out”, and TimmyOnTime will then tell you how much time you have spent on a particular Task or Project. You can even tag projects and tasks to keep all sorts of information about them. TimmyOnTime also offers a web-based interface to view reports and manage your projects, tasks and account.

They have a free version, which limits you to four projects, but they also have very simple paid tiers which not only let you create an unlimited amount of projects, but give you group-tracking capabilities as well.

Personally, time tracking is not an art that I have mastered. While working on a project, I am usually reduced to keeping notes on paper. This is neither safe or efficient. What I like about TimmyOnTime is that I won’t have to change my workflow in any great way in order to track my time, and I won’t have to install another application, which is the last thing I want.

One thing I would like to see in TimmyOnTime is an SMS-based option. This would have to be pay-per-use or an option for premium subscribers I am sure, but it would be fantastic to be able to send an SMS while out on the road or in meetings to keep my time tracking up to date. I’m not sure if that is something others would want, or just a heavy SMS user like me.

Dan Simard and Frank Lamontagne are the two guys behind this startup and they are taking a very pragmatic approach to getting their name out there. They are based in Trois-Rivières, Québec, and they haven’t taken any funding as of yet, but that may change in the future. As they build up their subscriber numbers, and develop their product, I am sure we will hear more from them.

Contact Dan Simard and Frank Lamontagne