Discussion Forum > Time tracking and AF: how to integrate?
Do you want to time track in order to use the data to be imported to whatever calculates your hours/rates/taxes etc?
How detailed does it need to be? to the minute/hour/date completed?
There are more than a dozen ways to go about tracking time, depends exactly on your criteria.
thing with time tracking is that it gets messy if you do it on paper, at some point you're going to have to insert it, so it makes more sense to do it on the pc. I prefer time trackers that you can clock in and out while you work, so the time is automatically calculated and inserted into your time sheets.
How detailed does it need to be? to the minute/hour/date completed?
There are more than a dozen ways to go about tracking time, depends exactly on your criteria.
thing with time tracking is that it gets messy if you do it on paper, at some point you're going to have to insert it, so it makes more sense to do it on the pc. I prefer time trackers that you can clock in and out while you work, so the time is automatically calculated and inserted into your time sheets.
January 21, 2009 at 2:44 |
Peter
Peter
Luckily for me, I'm on a salary and it gets paid the same regardless of what I enter in my timesheets, otherwise I wouldn't have got paid for about the last three months (yes, that's quite a backlog...)
I guess to answer your question, I don't need a heap of detail, as I should be able to extrapolate from the "little and often" nature of AF.
To use a simplified example, let's say during the course of a day I worked on three different projects A, B and C. Since I'm using little and often, I worked on each of those projects 3, 6, and 1 different times respectively (ie each project appears that many times in "that days" list). I can then estimate that I spent say 2 hours on A, 4 hours on B, and 1 hour on C. Which is close enough for bean counters at my company to be satisfied.
So I guess the question is, how can I work the AF system so that preparing that "daily list of how many times I worked on each thing" is trivial?
I guess to answer your question, I don't need a heap of detail, as I should be able to extrapolate from the "little and often" nature of AF.
To use a simplified example, let's say during the course of a day I worked on three different projects A, B and C. Since I'm using little and often, I worked on each of those projects 3, 6, and 1 different times respectively (ie each project appears that many times in "that days" list). I can then estimate that I spent say 2 hours on A, 4 hours on B, and 1 hour on C. Which is close enough for bean counters at my company to be satisfied.
So I guess the question is, how can I work the AF system so that preparing that "daily list of how many times I worked on each thing" is trivial?
January 21, 2009 at 3:00 |
ChrisK
ChrisK
There are some forms at David Seah's site which might help you.
His "progress tracker" allows you to list the projects you are working on and colour in a space for each 15 minutes you spend working on a specific project.
http://davidseah.com/blog/comments/task-progress-tracker-updates/
His "progress tracker" allows you to list the projects you are working on and colour in a space for each 15 minutes you spend working on a specific project.
http://davidseah.com/blog/comments/task-progress-tracker-updates/
January 21, 2009 at 8:46 |
Penny
Penny
I too have to record my time - and in some detail (I'm a local authority lawyer and as in the private sector we're funded by charging client departments against files). We've got an electronic system to record in real time, but actually I've found it easier to have a separate notebook, just for this purpose. I then spend an hour or so a week putting the data on the system. In terms of AF, I've not found it that cumbersome to date items as I do them, and it's been a useful cross reference for time recording purposes.
January 21, 2009 at 9:01 |
Alison
Alison
ChrisK
That's an interesting question and certainly not an easy situation to address. In the past I have used electronic systems (such as Above & Beyond) to record my time but the very fluidity of a system like AF makes any standard recording system too rigid.
It is difficult to be too specific without knowing the level of detail required or the type of splits you would have in your time but I guess what I would do is, firstly set up a task in AF "to review time monitoring system" :-) and then look at the following:
What is the purpose of the time sheets? Are they for client billing purposes or for action/productivity monitoring? What level of detail is required? How was my working day structured in the past? I think those questions will guide you towards the right approach for your circumstances and enable you to look at what you record.
As for fitting that with AF I think the approach also depends on the type of recording required. If it is more action/productivity monitoring then a daily task to review that day's actioned items and provide an estimated split may be sufficient. You could for example just photocopy the actioned pages at the end of the day and highlight that day's completed tasks to prepare your time sheet. If you have no control over the method of input to a corporate electronic system you could create your own input sheet to facilitate that task.
If it is more client based and you are naturally spending blocks of time on any one client at a time, although perhaps actioning tasks in an intuitive order, then it may be easier to work those on a project based approach. For example you may find that your AF list contains dozens of items for various clients scattered throughout. You may find that you create action sheets for each client, change those tasks to "add task x to client y project action sheet", add tasks such as "progess client y" and work (in AF mode) from those action sheets for "the period of time that feels right" All you then need to do is record on that action sheet the time blocks spent on that project and use those sheets themselves as the basis for time entry. Any non project tasks can just be summarised as an admin or similar time block at the end of the day, perhaps just on a summary sheet you create for the purpose.
I think it is important to remember that there will always be tasks that cannot be handled within AF, hence the need for schedules for certain time dependent tasks and normal project management systems. Time recording is one of the more difficult ones. I once wrote a Time & Billing database for producing client invoices with a need for free form reporting on multi contracts which was an absolute nightmare! Hopefuly some of the above tips may be of help, even in just giving a few more options.
Incidentally Chris, you have identified one of the key benefits of AF, that it does not just identify a high resistance tasks and enable action on it, but it prompts you to look at the reasons for that resistance and in many cases will be the catalyst for revamping or restyling the manner in which that task is done. AF can certainly help to give more focus to whether a system is working well for you or not. Keep in mind that there can be other factors at play in resistance to a time sheet recording task, (e.g. fear of not doing enough/the right thing, or just plain old resistance to having to be accountable for your time!).
Good luck!
That's an interesting question and certainly not an easy situation to address. In the past I have used electronic systems (such as Above & Beyond) to record my time but the very fluidity of a system like AF makes any standard recording system too rigid.
It is difficult to be too specific without knowing the level of detail required or the type of splits you would have in your time but I guess what I would do is, firstly set up a task in AF "to review time monitoring system" :-) and then look at the following:
What is the purpose of the time sheets? Are they for client billing purposes or for action/productivity monitoring? What level of detail is required? How was my working day structured in the past? I think those questions will guide you towards the right approach for your circumstances and enable you to look at what you record.
As for fitting that with AF I think the approach also depends on the type of recording required. If it is more action/productivity monitoring then a daily task to review that day's actioned items and provide an estimated split may be sufficient. You could for example just photocopy the actioned pages at the end of the day and highlight that day's completed tasks to prepare your time sheet. If you have no control over the method of input to a corporate electronic system you could create your own input sheet to facilitate that task.
If it is more client based and you are naturally spending blocks of time on any one client at a time, although perhaps actioning tasks in an intuitive order, then it may be easier to work those on a project based approach. For example you may find that your AF list contains dozens of items for various clients scattered throughout. You may find that you create action sheets for each client, change those tasks to "add task x to client y project action sheet", add tasks such as "progess client y" and work (in AF mode) from those action sheets for "the period of time that feels right" All you then need to do is record on that action sheet the time blocks spent on that project and use those sheets themselves as the basis for time entry. Any non project tasks can just be summarised as an admin or similar time block at the end of the day, perhaps just on a summary sheet you create for the purpose.
I think it is important to remember that there will always be tasks that cannot be handled within AF, hence the need for schedules for certain time dependent tasks and normal project management systems. Time recording is one of the more difficult ones. I once wrote a Time & Billing database for producing client invoices with a need for free form reporting on multi contracts which was an absolute nightmare! Hopefuly some of the above tips may be of help, even in just giving a few more options.
Incidentally Chris, you have identified one of the key benefits of AF, that it does not just identify a high resistance tasks and enable action on it, but it prompts you to look at the reasons for that resistance and in many cases will be the catalyst for revamping or restyling the manner in which that task is done. AF can certainly help to give more focus to whether a system is working well for you or not. Keep in mind that there can be other factors at play in resistance to a time sheet recording task, (e.g. fear of not doing enough/the right thing, or just plain old resistance to having to be accountable for your time!).
Good luck!
January 21, 2009 at 9:05 |
Christine B
Christine B
To go back to ChrisK's original post, remember that when you have a backlog it's important to get your recording of current work right BEFORE trying to clear the backlog.
January 21, 2009 at 15:48 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Thanks for all the informative replies everyone. The time tracking is more for project accounting/productivity monitoring purposes rather than client billing (ie we charge our projects at fixed costs, rather than time+materials). However, given that situation I'd imagine reasonable accuracy would be important so they can calculate project profitability etc.
After some thought, what I'm going to try is :
- whenever I commence working on a task in AF, jot down the current date+time next to it, this has the handy side effect of reminding me what I'm "meant" to be doing so I don't get side-tracked.
- whenever I finish a task or some work on a task, cross it out as usual, but write the current time again next to it. Then re-add the task to the last page if necessary, and on as normal.
This should enable me to do accurate time accounting, and with a minimum of redundancy. Of course, I'll have the daily task of "timesheet data entry", a weekly "submit timesheet" task, and the "timesheet backlog" task to catch up the old ones (only 6 weeks to go as of now). Mark's point about getting the system in order to time track now before catching up is a good one.
The only problem I forsee at this stage is interruptions that need urgent attention, but I should be able to deal with them by adding a last page task and date/time. Once that is done it should be fairly trivial to close off and re-enter the interrupted task as per usual.
After some thought, what I'm going to try is :
- whenever I commence working on a task in AF, jot down the current date+time next to it, this has the handy side effect of reminding me what I'm "meant" to be doing so I don't get side-tracked.
- whenever I finish a task or some work on a task, cross it out as usual, but write the current time again next to it. Then re-add the task to the last page if necessary, and on as normal.
This should enable me to do accurate time accounting, and with a minimum of redundancy. Of course, I'll have the daily task of "timesheet data entry", a weekly "submit timesheet" task, and the "timesheet backlog" task to catch up the old ones (only 6 weeks to go as of now). Mark's point about getting the system in order to time track now before catching up is a good one.
The only problem I forsee at this stage is interruptions that need urgent attention, but I should be able to deal with them by adding a last page task and date/time. Once that is done it should be fairly trivial to close off and re-enter the interrupted task as per usual.
January 21, 2009 at 23:45 |
ChrisK
ChrisK
ChrisK,
Responses have been interesting as is the case most of the time in this forum.
If you want a computer-based one, and they're not for everyone (I often use the kitchen timer - digital version!), search for TimeLeft, there's a free version.
Regards,
Roger J
Responses have been interesting as is the case most of the time in this forum.
If you want a computer-based one, and they're not for everyone (I often use the kitchen timer - digital version!), search for TimeLeft, there's a free version.
Regards,
Roger J
January 22, 2009 at 13:05 |
Roger J
Roger J
Why not just create a column to add a time note before or after each task you work on. Since you are reviewing totalling based on email now, this seems more accurate and easier. As for your list, make your task entry the daily/weekly work of reviewing the numbers and entering the data.
FWIW,
Gordon
FWIW,
Gordon
January 22, 2009 at 20:03 |
Gordon
Gordon
I use Task Blaze which works like a punch in clock and inserts the data into Outlook Calendar after you've punched out. This has the benefit of both being precise to the minute and you have a more graphical display inside your calendar of where your time went. You might want to separate your timesheet data from your regular appointments though (do this by creating a second calendar). That is...if you use outlook. It's a very simple solution, especially if you have autokey software to speed up entering recurring task types.
Like Gordon suggested, you can have timesheet columns added to your AF pages, but this gets a little complicated when re-entering tasks.
A very simple solution could be to peg with stripes the amount of times you spent on a task. One peg might mean 15 minutes. It's not hard to carry over the 'peg count' if you re-enter a task. A slightly more sophisticated notation practice will give you more flexibility.
Like Gordon suggested, you can have timesheet columns added to your AF pages, but this gets a little complicated when re-entering tasks.
A very simple solution could be to peg with stripes the amount of times you spent on a task. One peg might mean 15 minutes. It's not hard to carry over the 'peg count' if you re-enter a task. A slightly more sophisticated notation practice will give you more flexibility.
January 23, 2009 at 4:29 |
Peter
Peter
To get to the point, I really need to be able to go through and know what I've done day by day, so I can book time against it. At the moment the extent of my date tracking in AF has been to add the date to the first new task entered for that day, to give me some idea of how many tasks I'm adding per day.
I could date each task as I cross it off, but that seems a bit cumbersome for a paper based system. I could keep a separate list of everything I worked on that day, but again, that seems to be inefficient and redundant. Any clever hacks or tips, anyone?