Inspiration To Time Tracking

Time tracking and productivity tools do not necessarily prove to be extremely valuable for everyone. However, they are quite indispensable for those whose financial benefits are tied with hours or man-hours, who want to measure efficiency and get precise time data, who work from home, and, perhaps, even from a different country with a necessity to provide time reports on the work done.

Problem. Lots of companies have a tragic story of how their time tracking has gone wrong.

I’m not talking about time tracking close to “spying” (background apps that track time and take screenshots really suck). Instead, the subject matter is productivity, self-discipline, the ability to evaluate your objectives and set realistic deadlines.

Businesses might be interested in research results showing that employees mostly underestimate, not overestimate hours they have spent on something. It means that without tracking you will bill clients for fewer hours than you’ve actually contributed.

Who needs time tracking?

Those working in marketing, IT, web development, design… basically all who work on a project basis. A certain project is expected to take a certain amount of time, and that amount of time will determine how much your client will pay.

With time tracking, you’ll be able to provide precise time data like a true professional instead of ballpark figures.

People tend to provide rough estimates, approximate numbers, forget about the exact time spent. Time tracking tools will ensure that both you and your clients deal with fair and accurate figures.

If timesheets are properly maintained and filled in by your company members, they will always act as written proof of time you have contributed.

Everhour is the top choice for small businesses and small to mid-size teams of 5 to 50 members, including professionals like software developers, marketers, designers, consultants, lawyers, you name it!

Seamlessly integrating with popular project management tools like Asana, Trello, and Jira, its user-friendly interface and customizable reports make it the ultimate time tracking solution for small and mid-size teams.

With dedicated support ensuring you receive timely assistance, our team is here to help you promptly and with a smile!

Useful tips

OK, all these things may be perfectly understandable and desirable for a manager, but how to motivate your employees?

Here are some tips based on our team’s experience:

• Make it easy. The system should be easy enough for an average employee who has to enter hours spent every day. Many companies make the mistake of sticking to complicated or boring time tracking processes. Simplify or automate them to the max and people will unfailingly submit their time entries and love the handy tool they’ll use.
• Everyone should be in (yes, even the boss 🙂 ). There is nothing less encouraging than managers who force time tracking on others but don’t do it themselves.
• Do not make 8 hours a day obligatory. If you want a real picture of efficiency, make sure you create an environment where people are free to report honestly.
• Fill in timesheets regularly. The best way to track time is to track it consistently or at least as often as you have a task ready.
• Discuss the results & give feedback. Share the results with your team and analyze them on a monthly or quarterly basis.
• Track every hour, not only project ones. Rather than penalizing employees for spending time on other activities, use this information to your benefit. Find out what your team’s time is dedicated to besides work. You may discover a legitimate internal issue that requires tracking, e.g. morning meetings or training.

Inspiration

We really love a cool idea by Mando Group, a software agency in the UK. They’ve decided to have a little fun and have found a solution to the timesheet problem 🙂

They have a fridge full of free beer for their employees to enjoy… only after filling in their timesheets.

(I’ve discovered this idea thanks to Nicholas Holmes)

With Everhour we may need a special API call for this 🙂

These guys are not alone in their inventiveness – http://youtu.be/WDbiyWlKhlM

Michal Migurski has told a story called “angry, productive birds“. The idea is to show the team’s time stats “angry birds” style. They have a big wall of  bird graphs displaying the progress the team has made on a certain project. These graphs get printed out weekly so everyone can see what their work looks like. The bottom graph shows the breakdown of who’s working on the project each week.

• The object of the game is to hit the pig with the bird.
• Bird over the pig means the project is at risk of losing money.
• Bird passed the pig means the team is at risk of being late.

Github link for geeks 🙂

Nicholas Felton tracks absolutely everything he does. Ryan Koo mentions in his great article that every year Felton publishes brilliantly illustrated books about his life entitled “Feltron reports”, and they’ve become so popular that people actually buy them. Definitely, check them out if you appreciate great infographics.

Finally

If you make your timesheet submission process simple, clearly communicate the reasons behind it and coming benefits, add a little fun, it will turn into a good habit and have a positive impact on everyone’s productivity.

Completing timesheets requires involvement from the entire team. It is a journey, not a destination, and only one small but important piece towards more effective and organized work and a better life. I would not say that we have perfect processes with time tracking, but we definitely feel and do better than before and we’re improving our routine daily.

Do you believe in benefiting from time tracking? Tell us!