Tempus

If you want to work efficiently, without burning out, then the Pomodoro method is something you may be interested in. It's quite simple, and you only need a timer for it. Not only does Tempus provide you with such a timer, but it also makes everything smooth and elegant. This lightweight utility can help you keep track of your work and break hours, and it generates statistics to show you the progress you've made. It's an excellent little utility to have running in the background when you're concentrated on important projects.

Tempus is free and open source, so it won't cost you anything to try it out. The application works on all modern Windows platforms, and it doesn't ask for any special tools or services. You can install it in just a few seconds, without going through any complicated settings.

The application displays a timer in the lower-right corner of the screen when you click its system tray icon. It has a clean and sleek design, which make it fit well in modern operating systems. You can start the timer right away, with a single click, which makes the application display the elapsed time, either numerically or as a percentage of a proposed amount.

Tempus employs the Pomodoro time management technique to help you boost your productivity. It's a simple technique that involves breaking down your workload into bursts, traditionally of 25 minutes, separated by short breaks. Of course, the application lets you decide how long your work and break times should be, how many cycles (Pomodoros) to go through, and you can also set up a small delay to the timer's alerts.

The timer settings can be brought up on the application's compact user interface on a sliding vertical menu, by simply clicking an icon next to the timer's Start button. Furthermore, you can bring up a series of statistics in the exact same manner if you want to see your daily and total completed Pomodoros and the amount of time you've spent working. The application places these numbers right in front of you, but it also displays the statistics as graphs, and you can view them for the current week or month. Additionally, Tempus lets you set up one or more goals, and it can tell you how much of a goal you've completed, which is particularly useful if you plan to work for a certain amount of time in a day, week, month or year.

You can be much more productive and efficient if you decide to manage your work hours with Tempus.