Keeping track of time is very important for any organization. It helps you understand the amount of time spent on different tasks. This in turn allows you to evaluate the capabilities of different team members and thus assign tasks accordingly. In addition, time tracking makes the process of billing your clients and paying your employees much easier.
Here are some suggestions for keeping track of time in your company:
- Emphasize the importance of time-tracking
If your team does not buy into the idea of time tracking, no strategy or tool used will be effective. Therefore, the first thing you need to do is instill a culture of time tracking in your company. Make sure all the team members understand the importance of tracking time and how it improves productivity. Besides explaining the advantages, you should also make it clear what strategies you intend to use for tracking time.
- Use a time-tracking solution
If you have been tracking time manually, it’s time you adopt a premium tool to step up your game. When selecting a time tracking software, look out for features such as a user-friendly design, availability of support, and the ability to generate reports in formats such as Excel, HTML and PDF. Such reports will come in very handy especially when you are required to give an account of the time spent. This time-tracking tool comes with a free version, as well as a premium version with and more features aforementioned here. Conduct your research well before making your final decision.
- Create time estimates for each individual task
Don’t make the mistake of letting team members track the time spent on projects on their own terms. Instead, you need to analyze every task from the onset and come up with an estimate of how long it would take to complete it. Your team members will then be required to work within the preset limits and ranges. Creating time estimates will prevent unnecessary wastage of time.
- Keep it simple
Time tracking does not have to be a very elaborate and extensive process. You need to make it as effortless, easy and simple as possible. If you realize that the process has become too cumbersome, you should find ways of making it more bearable. You can do this by offering your team members online tutorials, training guides or even someone who can provide the much needed support. Alternatively, you could switch to a more user-friendly time tracking tool.
- Separate overhead tasks from project work
Different types of tasks are usually billed differently. Therefore, you need to differentiate the time spent on routine support-related or administrative tasks, and the time spent on project-related tasks. This will make it easier for you to bill each task accordingly.
- Recognize the limitations of software
Getting a one-size-fits-all time tracking solution can be very difficult. For instance, some solutions don’t come with the ability to track time offline. Therefore, you need to understand the limitations of each solution and then consider your options. Once you are sure about what your business needs, you can then upgrade to more expensive software or adopt a hybrid approach.
Charles Mburugu is a professional blogger who writes for TechBlogKe. You can follow him on Twitter @techblogke.