The Emergent Task Timer

"Emergent Task Timer"

See where your time is going and stay focused

The Emergent Task Timer (or ETT) is a stand-alone system that prompts you to log what you’re doing every 15 minutes. It works great with a simple 15-minute repeating timer. You’ll quickly see where your time is going, and have a picture of what your day looked like. The results are often shocking. Like all the Printable CEO™ forms, the ETT is designed to provide maximum insight with a minimum of fuss.

For instructions, the original post describes each design feature in greater detail.

Who uses it

Over the years, this form seems to be popular with people working in reactionary jobs (tech support, for example) and students who are trying to stay focused. The use of the 15-minute timer is useful for “pacing” the day; when it goes off, you’ll know if you’ve been on task or off task. Even if you don’t note a bubble for every single 15-minute interval, you can often infer how your day has been going from the overall pattern that has built. Some people use it as a simple daily time tracker for billable work. Others have used it to show their bosses that their time gets frittered away by useless meetings.

The 2011 edition is a complete redraw of the original 2006 form, and is available in color and international paper sizes in both monochrome and color designs. They are also available in both vertical and horizontal formats. The vertical format handles 19 tasks for 10 hours, and the horizontal format can handle 14 tasks over 16 hours.

Instruction Booklet

Coming soon

In the meantime, the original post describes each design feature in greater detail. Enjoy!

Where to buy a good 15-minute timer? Look for a “repeating interval timer” at your local sports store. I use a Timex Ironman digital watch (about US$50). You might look into the Gym Boss also.

Download Emergent Task Timing Printable Forms

Tip: To download the PDFs to your computer, right-click (control-click on Macs) the links and choose “Save Link As…”

Note: Some Macs have trouble displaying the colors in the PDF using the native PDF Viewer, but the forms should print correctly. If you install Adobe Acrobat Reader, the issue goes away.

ETT01 Standard Black & White