TimeMarbles: A More Holistic Approach to Self-Reflecting on Focus in the Knowledge Workplace

Paper Title

TimeMarbles: A More Holistic Approach to Self-Reflecting on Focus in the Knowledge Workplace

Publication Info

• Topic area: Holistic focus-tracking tools for knowledge workers
• Keywords: focus tracking, knowledge work, productivity tools, self-reflection, team collaboration, attention management, breaks, wellbeing, human-computer interaction, holistic design

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: Existing focus-tracking tools often reduce attention to a binary focus vs. non-focus model, neglecting the diversity of activities in a knowledge worker's day, such as collaboration and breaks. This framing can lead to stress, self-optimization, and undervaluing non-focus activities.
• Significance: Addressing this gap is crucial for creating tools that better reflect the realities of knowledge work, support worker wellbeing, and promote a more balanced view of productivity.
• Motivation and related work: Prior research highlights the limitations of binary focus models and the negative effects of productivity-centric tools. Recent studies advocate for holistic approaches to productivity, incorporating factors like job satisfaction, collaboration, and breaks. However, these ideas have not been fully operationalized in focus-tracking tools, leaving a gap this paper seeks to address.

Solution

• Proposed approach: TimeMarbles, a web app that tracks focus across six modes: three levels of attention (high-focus, normal-focus, break) combined with two types of independence (individual, team).
• Novelty:
  1. Introduces a six-mode framework for focus tracking, expanding beyond binary models.
  2. Provides a non-normative visualization ("bowl of marbles") to encourage holistic reflection on time use.
  3. Empirically evaluates the approach through a two-week comparative study with 24 participants.
  4. Demonstrates the impact of holistic focus tracking on perceptions of productivity and wellbeing.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  • Developed two design variants (TimeMarbles and FocusDonut) with iterative prototyping and pilot testing.
  • Conducted a two-week structured observation study with 24 participants, each using both variants for five workdays.
  • Collected data through bi-hourly activity logs, daily reflections, surveys, and semi-structured interviews.
  • Analyzed data using mixed methods, including reflexive thematic analysis and descriptive statistics.

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • Participants spent 40.4% of their time in high-focus, 39.7% in normal-focus, and 19.8% in breaks.
  • Individual activities accounted for 73.1% of time, while team activities made up 26.9%.
  • Participants preferred tracking time with at least three focus levels and expressed interest in even more granularity.
• Advantage over baselines:
  • Participants felt more positive about their day when using TimeMarbles compared to the FocusDonut, especially for non high-focus tasks.
  • TimeMarbles encouraged deeper self-reflection and provided a more representative view of the workday.
  • Significant improvement in participants' perception of team activities after using TimeMarbles (t(23)=1.92, p<0.05).
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Study involved 24 knowledge workers across 14 companies and four continents.
  • Participants logged ~3100 activities, categorized into six focus modes and 13 activity types.
  • Reflexive thematic analysis of interviews revealed themes such as rethinking productivity, trade-offs between simplicity and representativeness, and variation in focus patterns.
• Limitations and future work:
  • Limited diversity in participant demographics (e.g., overrepresentation of software developers, underrepresentation from Asia).
  • Short study duration (one workweek per variant) limits insights into long-term behavior change.
  • Future work should explore personalization, longitudinal impacts, and integration with organizational workflows.

Summary

This paper introduces TimeMarbles, a holistic focus-tracking tool that expands the binary focus model into six modes, combining three levels of attention (high-focus, normal-focus, break) with two types of independence (individual, team). A two-week study with 24 knowledge workers demonstrated that TimeMarbles encouraged more positive perceptions of workdays, deeper self-reflection, and a more balanced view of productivity. Participants preferred the granularity of TimeMarbles and found its visualization more representative of their time. Future research should explore personalization, long-term impacts, and broader demographic representation to further refine holistic focus-tracking tools.