Love/Hate Relationship with Time Tracking

Imagine this scene, your manager has asked you to capture how long you are spending on tasks related to your latest project. While you have estimated the time it should take to complete different tasks, management wants to know how accurate those estimates really are. Unsure of where to start, you scratch your head and wish you had more guidance. 

Tracking your time is never an easy task.  First, start out with defining the goal of the time tracking. Are you trying to validate estimates for tasks? Or are you trying to establish a current rate for a specific operational task to help define capacity numbers?  

Second, set boundaries for what tasks are going to be tracked and which tasks are not going to be tracked. Your team may say that departmental meetings and/or catching up on emails should not be tracked. While holding a meeting to brainstorm a solution for a specific task should be counted. 

Third, consider capturing time in broad categories, perhaps the functional areas that your department leads within the organization. Define what your smallest time increment will be - for example 15 minutes. Start out capturing data for a week and then verify that you have the correct categories and tasks being tracked. Usually tracking your time for 4-6 weeks is a good time period to start to see if any patterns appear. 

Finally, expect that you’ll have some bumps in the road as you start tracking your tasks. Once your system or method of tracking is established, it will get easier to track. 

The Refining Workflow team recommends using Toggl Track (https://toggl.com/track/freelance-time-tracking/) for your time tracking exercise. This tool allows you to track up to 5 different team members and their time on the free plan.  You can enter specific blocks of time against a project and/or client.  Or you can click the start button, go do the task you need to do and come back and click the stop button. Toggl will then capture the time you spent on that task automatically.