If you’re a developer, the last thing you want between you and a flow state is a clunky timer or a noisy admin UI. That’s why we built What Have You Done?! – a time-tracking tool and CLI that makes logging work fast, effortless, and honest.
What we are
What Have You Done?! is a lightweight, full-featured time tracker built for people who prefer the terminal and the shortest path to a correct log. Whether you juggle client work, internal tasks, or open-source contributions, the tool lets you create clients and projects, start and stop timers from the command line, and get clean, actionable reports without interrupting your workflow.
Designed for developers
- Keyboard-first: most actions are one-line commands – start, stop, tag, report.
- Honest logs: simple start/stop timers reduce the temptation to guess or invent numbers.
- Portable: works the same in a local repo, a remote shell, or an automated script.
- Extensible: export CSV/JSON, integrate with billing tools, or pipe reports into your CI.
Three reasons to track your time
1) Improve estimates and plan better
The problem: most estimates are optimism dressed as authority. We all undercount the little things that add up – context switching, setup time, refactors.
The payoff: consistent time data reveals the distribution of work. See how long code reviews actually take, how much time debugging eats, and whether “one-off” tasks really are one-off.
Practical tip: after two sprints of tracking, recalibrate your story point baselines or hourly estimates using the median times you actually logged. Use project-level reports to set more realistic scope.
2) Find and reduce waste
The problem: interruptions and small admin chores are stealth time-suckers. Alone they feel trivial; together they wreck focus.
The payoff: time tracking surfaces patterns – frequent short tasks, long tail interruptions, or meetings that never produce outcomes. With that data you can batch similar work, protect focus blocks, and rework meeting cadence.
Practical tip: run a 2-week experiment where you categorize every entry (deep work, meeting, bugfix, admin). Then aim to cut meetings or admin time by 20% the following sprint and watch throughput improve.
3) Prove value (without the awkwardness)
The problem: “What did you do all day?” is a bad question – but many budgets and reviews still require proof.
The payoff: neat, timestamped records show deliverables and effort, making billing, performance reviews, and retrospectives straightforward. Instead of vague claims, you have a defensible trail of work.
Practical tip: use project reports to generate client invoices or attach timesheets to pull requests. When asking for a raise or budget, show outcomes plus the time invested – it tells a stronger story.
Quick example usage
- Start a timer:
whyd start --project api-auth --task "token refresh" - Stop it:
whyd stop - Tag an entry:
whyd tag 123 bug,high-priority - Generate a weekly report:
whyd report --week --format csv
Engineering-friendly features
- CLI-first workflow: ideal for terminals, remote servers, and automated hooks.
- Integrations: export data to CSV/JSON for billing, analytics, or payroll.
- Lightweight storage: local or synced backends so you control the data model.
- Short learning curve: install, configure, track – no onboarding waterfall.
Call to action
We’re opening a beta for early adopters who want to try a keyboard-forward time tracker and help shape integrations for developer workflows. Want early access, the CLI, or a demo? Drop your email on the waitlist or reply here and I’ll add you.
— Kurt, founder of What Have You Done?!