Tracking Time

A plan is all very well and good but you need to be able to stick to it, and the best way to do that is to plan well in the first place. Well, again, this is only going to come through experience. Not just experience doing web project management but experience working with this team on these kinds of projects. By consistently tracking how long your team actually spends on each task and measuring against how long you estimated it would take, you not only get a clearer picture of project progress but you can also determine the accuracy of your timing estimations and identify potential bottlenecks. Gradually, you will get more accurate; if you always seem to underestimate a particular task or phase then you’ll know to allocate more time for those tasks on future projects.

Find a way to easily collect and collate timing data for each project. This will allow you to build up average timings for project phases so that you can give more accurate ballpark guesses and figures to your boss or client team. These guesses can also be good starting points for estimates on future projects. Equipped with a capped budget and average timings for project phases, you can find the most cost-effective solution to deliver the required features. That’s much better than going in blind.

A side effect of collecting this timing data is that you also have a list of commonly repeated tasks in different projects. Perhaps you might be able to identify areas where you could make efficiency savings? For instance if you’re often building a news feed or a product carousel or an FAQ page, you could set a side project for someone or a group of people to create a resusable module or library.

Nobody enjoys time tracking. It’s methodical, laborious, repetitive and often seems a pointless waste of time. It doesn’t guarantee that a project won’t go over budget and people often see time tracking suspiciously, as if a slave master is sitting behind them making sure they don’t stop working. Is my job under threat if I don’t track a solid 8 hours or if the chap sitting next to me is clocking more hours? And yet, everyone on the team needs to track their time in order for you to collect the valuable data you need to plan future projects. The main obstacles to proper time tracking are a combination of poor tools — difficult to use, overly detailed, not tailored to the individual or organisation’s specific needs — and poor communication.

In terms of tools, there are more and more time-tracking solutions available all the time, many that are available as web apps or that integrate with offline desktop tools such as code editors. Maybe you might need different team members to adopt different tools depending what would have the least impact on their workflow. It would after all defeat the purpose if people had to spend too much of the precious time you’ve planned for them in tracking their time. Maybe you need your own bespoke tool (another great idea for a side project!) that’s tailored to the roles and workflow or your team specifically. Deciding on tooling should be a team conversation and everyone should have a say. As long as you get your data.

Ultimately though, no matter what time tracking tools you decide upon, people aren’t going to use them to their full potential, if at all, if they aren’t personally invested in the reasons behind doing it. You need to communicate to the team the importance of time tracking for the organisation of the project as a whole and for the sake of future projects. It’s not just about calculating bonuses or making your job easier. If you can’t accurately assess how long a task takes them, you might inadvertently assign them too little time in future, or they may end up being assigned to multiple tasks or projects simultaneously due to the challenge of resource planning. By tracking their time, they are giving themselves enough time to do their work from now on. Tracking time leads to less overtime and more productive work time. It means the team/agency/company can produce better quality work because everyone will have enough time to do their jobs properly, and will generate enough revenue to cover the costs and make a profit, profit that will (hopefully!) trickle down to everybody.

Try to make it a daily habit, something that can be done quickly, easily (even automatically?) and at the same time every day during less productive times, like at the start of each day, the end of each day, or just after lunch. It’s your job to ensure everyone is tracking their time and if necessary to listen to and address the concerns of those who may not be.