One of the requests that has come in for FlexTime is that it should support some kind of logging mechanism. That is, you should be able to keep statistics on certain activities. This is especially important to people using FlexTime to improve their productivity or adherence to beneficial habits like stretching or exercise.

I do hope to fulfill this requirement in a future release of FlexTime, but in a stunning example of customer ingenuity, Ryan Ballantyne has beat me to the punch and implemented just such a mechanism, by leveraging FlexTime’s scripting support. When I see things like this I have to take a step back and say, “whoah!” It’s gratifying to see somebody seize on the functionality of FlexTime with such enthusiasm. Sure, the enthusiasm was toward filling a shortcoming of FlexTime, but the fact that he had the vision and followed through on it is at least a testament to its … flexibility.

Ryan also had some general observations about FlexTime, and how he uses it:

“I was once given a stretch routine by a chiropractor to help my back and neck. It really does help, but it’s hard to stay dedicated and do it with frequency. Also, each stretch calls for 20 seconds, and it can be hard to count out the time on my own.”

Another interesting use he describes is using it as a timer in a group gaming scenario:

“I once used it to time a game of Rummikub. In that game, everyone is allowed only 2 minutes per turn. I set flextime up to speak text at 30-second intervals, reminding people of how much time they had left. It was great.”

Interesting stuff, Ryan! I hope that your example will inspire other people to see what Flextime can do for them.

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