Based on some pretty awesome feedback that I've received from people who apparently find Time Tracker v1.0 very useful, I'm adding a few new features and improvements to the user interface.

For my Lotus-themed works...

My development deep-dives are going to go into the appropriate product wiki.

My editorials are going to go into LotusJournal.com.

So it only makes sense that my open source applications and utilities go into our community's open source catalog: OpenNTF.org!

Thus, I've create Project: Time Tracker, which will now be run out of OpenNTF.org. So you can either submit feedback, request features and functionality here or over in the OpenNTF.org product page.

If you have an application that helps you get through the day - and both own the IP and are okay with the GNU or Apache licensing model - put it online and help your fellow yellowbleeders!

Time Management experts will tell you an individual only has 24 hours in a single day; proper time management isn't finding time in your day, but rather discovering and dealing with inefficiencies in your day. The best way to discover those inefficiencies - at least as recommended to me as part of the AMA Time Management Strategies seminar which I recently attended - is to document how you spend your day.

With that, I introduce Time Tracker, an Open Source Efficiency Tracking Utility for the Lotus Notes Client.

The idea is simple. At the start of your day - upon completion of your first task - create an entry highlighting what you did and whether you feel it was an efficient or inefficient use of your time. Based on several requests, you can also select the priority, apply categories, or even align your time against a project.

For Lotus Notes Client v8.0 and above, you can use the Time Tracker Widget to make this process even easier!

I don't typically hock my wares on the blog, but I thought that this would interest the readership.

I'm currently putting the finishing touches on my latest application - Spread, my NotesData Export Engine for the Lotus Notes 8 (and above) client. This is a consumer-focused product aimed at... well, I suppose anyone who has to take content from a NotesDatabase and work with it in Microsoft Excel.

Today, it's going into Microsoft Excel. Tomorrow -- meaning phase 2 -- I'm going to expand the export capabilities to not only CSV but also OpenOffice and Lotus Symphony.

Some of you may be curious as to what it does: simple really. An admin will define an Export Template. That Export Template will consume a NotesDocumentCollection - either via a defined Application Profile and NotesDocument Selection Formula or at runtime passed via the Lotus Notes client UI (UnproccessedDocuments, etc.). The engine takes each NotesDocument and evaluates it against a defined subset of values that will make up the Excel spreadsheet.

That was all geekspeak for You can either select some documents from a view or just tell it which report to run, and it'll just export the info into Excel! The goal is to make it simple for people to generate reports from any Lotus Notes application, and to do that...

This application will be a Lotus Notes Composite Application, wired as a widget. Once this widget is installed, the idea is that you can select a bunch of documents, right-click, and select Export... from the pop-up menu. A prompt later - mostly asking what it is that you want to export - and you're staring at your spreadsheet complete with NotesData from your application.

I'll babble more about this, as well as talk about the build once the product ships... but I thought that I would show you the Lotus Notes client UI for the application itself:

I've tried to go with as much of a Web UI as I could in the Lotus Notes 8 client without impacting functional integrity -- the last thing this application needs is a flaky UI just because I want it to stand out.

The build is fairly basic - a single Frameset Design Element used as the Default Launch Object for the Lotus Notes Client (since you can't lauch a Form Design Element without relying on hacking), Embedded Views on the application Dashboard/Home page, and a simple-yet-functional interface into what I hope will be an easy to use yet extremely powerful Lotus Notes Client plug-in.

I'll be putting out the call for alpha testers soon, but anyone with export needs that can report bugs back to me please contact me.

This will be a product that I'll be selling -- still working out fair pricing and just what you get for said price, but talk of that will follow.

Also, I'll keep this as far from being a commercial and more focusing on -- when I do bring it up -- the development of the product, as I think that is the more interesting part of this whole exercise for my developer-minded readers.

Complete with customer and contributor testimonials and showcased Top Contributor and New Contributor profiles, the new developerWorks Lotus Wiki Home Page acts as a gateway into all of the IBM Lotus and IBM Websphere product family Wikis.

They even put a quote from some hack who thinks himself a guru of sorts:

"With technology, printed materials become dated before they're sent to the editor; improvement of application and technique change almost hourly. Content creation and community interaction--via mediums such as Product Wikis--are invaluable to establishing 'living documentation' which can evolve in tandem with its community."

The product wikis are an amazing resource to both customers, business partners, and even to IBMers who can quickly access best practices tutorials as well as a deep well of feature functionality for each Lotus and Websphere product.

This is why I cannot stress the importance of cross-posting article content: establishing the product wikis as an authoritative master resource for customers - be they product customers, the aforementioned business partners, or even the aforementioned IBMer - will do nothing but strengthen the product, empower the customer to extend their usage of the given product, allow the genius-level contributors to this Lotus Online Community to further establish themselves as subject matter experts, and ultimately benefit everyone involved.

Not contributing to the wikis today? You can use your IBM Sign-in and contribute something - there's a lot of room out there for contributions.

And if you're a blogger who is interested in cross-posting content - or anyone who has an idea for an article-length contribution - let me know and we'll chat - there's a Recognition Program eager to give you credit for your contributions!