Managing time / projects.
Discussion
Hello business heads of PH.
I'm a techie by nature, but as I get more and more into big projects I'm finding that I'm having to scurry about at the end of the project to supply a breakdown of time spent of projects, along with what was done and of course the cost.
I've never been very good at keeping a record of things like this, but this has to improve as we attract business from larger companies.
So, how do you keep track of what you have spent on time? Is it a discipline thing on my part?
For example, if I only do 4 hours of work on one particular project in one day due to waiting for information from them, I would just stick in a spreadsheet that I spent 4 hours on that project and put a description beside it along with a cost at our hourly rate (daily rate divided).
Is this the best way, is there a different way of thinking about it?
Time management course? <shrugs>
Over to you...
I'm a techie by nature, but as I get more and more into big projects I'm finding that I'm having to scurry about at the end of the project to supply a breakdown of time spent of projects, along with what was done and of course the cost.
I've never been very good at keeping a record of things like this, but this has to improve as we attract business from larger companies.
So, how do you keep track of what you have spent on time? Is it a discipline thing on my part?
For example, if I only do 4 hours of work on one particular project in one day due to waiting for information from them, I would just stick in a spreadsheet that I spent 4 hours on that project and put a description beside it along with a cost at our hourly rate (daily rate divided).
Is this the best way, is there a different way of thinking about it?
Time management course? <shrugs>
Over to you...
I'm an accountant and try to track my day in 15min blocks. Typically I used a spreadsheet and then transferred it into our finance system every week.
This year I am going old school and just writing in my diary as I go along. It is a discipline thing for me and the easier it is the more likely I will do it, hence my diary approach!
This year I am going old school and just writing in my diary as I go along. It is a discipline thing for me and the easier it is the more likely I will do it, hence my diary approach!
Hi - I guess you're working on your own without collaboration tools?
The easiest way I've found, is to keep Outlook Calendar running in the background; click to make a new appointment and then in the body of the appointment screen list your hours and any commentary. At the end of the week copy it across to OneNote and attach to your invoice/report WHY. Naturally you can make a second calendar if you want to keep it all together.Hope it helps.
p.s If you're running projects for the company I'd love to talk to them about their systems it's my speciality
The easiest way I've found, is to keep Outlook Calendar running in the background; click to make a new appointment and then in the body of the appointment screen list your hours and any commentary. At the end of the week copy it across to OneNote and attach to your invoice/report WHY. Naturally you can make a second calendar if you want to keep it all together.Hope it helps.
p.s If you're running projects for the company I'd love to talk to them about their systems it's my speciality
Thanks all.
I've never used one note - but i do have it available. I may read up on this.
I'm the sole techie at the company i work for, so everything has to be done by me when a project comes in (pre sales, implementation and post sales support as well as any development).
I do manage it at the minute, but always just feel as if i need to 'throw something together' because i have to, and i'm always afraid that i might miss something that could cost us revenue.
Looks like discipline is a big part of it.
Thanks again.
D.
I've never used one note - but i do have it available. I may read up on this.
I'm the sole techie at the company i work for, so everything has to be done by me when a project comes in (pre sales, implementation and post sales support as well as any development).
I do manage it at the minute, but always just feel as if i need to 'throw something together' because i have to, and i'm always afraid that i might miss something that could cost us revenue.
Looks like discipline is a big part of it.
Thanks again.
D.
Discipline is certainly a major part of accurate time recording. Lawyers have a huge incentive to account for their time accurately as it's so expensive - they have quite specific systems in place for it.
For everyone else the usual method is keep a timesheet.
For one person the ideal timesheet is an excel spreadsheet - cheap and effective.
For multiple people you need a system. If it's only for a few people (three or four) and you can rely on their own discipline to get the job done then a quick Google search will throw up a wide range of inexpensive software.
If you need a proper corporate solution for time recording you should talk to me. As well as loads of other Employee Processes we automate Time Recording. Read all about it here
For everyone else the usual method is keep a timesheet.
For one person the ideal timesheet is an excel spreadsheet - cheap and effective.
For multiple people you need a system. If it's only for a few people (three or four) and you can rely on their own discipline to get the job done then a quick Google search will throw up a wide range of inexpensive software.
If you need a proper corporate solution for time recording you should talk to me. As well as loads of other Employee Processes we automate Time Recording. Read all about it here
Davie_GLA said:
Thanks Don,
But it's just me. Looks like excel is the best way forward perhaps with the use of outlook.
Thanks,
David.
I suspected as much - just offering some generalised advice - woth a shameless plug on the side. But it's just me. Looks like excel is the best way forward perhaps with the use of outlook.
Thanks,
David.
We have some direct competitors who are pretty good. Within our own more limited functionality set we often compete with SAP. We're less than a tenth their price. But you don't need all that. Excel will do you proud.
igiveup said:
have a look at www.Actitime.Com
This sort of tool is great if you have a small team. Free is a price few can match and if you go for a hosted solution there's nothing to install.Journyx are another thorn in our side if you Google 'em
Our stuff is more "Enterprise Class". Which basically means it's not remotely simple to set up or administer because it caters to a host of complex configurations in a manner not unlike SAP. Just as easy for the end-user to complete a timesheet or book a holiday or do their expenses, of course, but the setup requires more thought and work.
Most people buy configuration services so they get a system delivered that does exactly what they want out-of-the-box.
OP: Have you considered a timesheet app for your mobile? Quite a few vendors sell 'em in flavours from one-user-personal-time-management style to Enterprise-connectivity. You don't need the latter (our stuff) but the former should be available from the app-stores?
Don - a good idea but i'm never far away from a laptop or a PC.
And besides, it's certain i would lose the phone after not transferring the stuff for a week.
I think i'll set up some web based thing on debian, that will at least give me the incentive to use it if i go to the trouble of setting it up.
And besides, it's certain i would lose the phone after not transferring the stuff for a week.
I think i'll set up some web based thing on debian, that will at least give me the incentive to use it if i go to the trouble of setting it up.
Davie_GLA said:
Don - a good idea but i'm never far away from a laptop or a PC.
And besides, it's certain i would lose the phone after not transferring the stuff for a week.
I think i'll set up some web based thing on debian, that will at least give me the incentive to use it if i go to the trouble of setting it up.
Best of luck with that. I'm sure you can fix something up that will meet your needs.And besides, it's certain i would lose the phone after not transferring the stuff for a week.
I think i'll set up some web based thing on debian, that will at least give me the incentive to use it if i go to the trouble of setting it up.
If you ever need an enterprise/corporate solution give me a shout. Deals for PHers.
I started in notepad, press F5 for current day and tim e and then whack your comment after it.
Then used Excel, CTRL & + to insert the date and CTRL & SHIFT & + to insert the time
We were wasting much time on timekeeping, so as we moved to OTRS I made the time field mandatory and used that. I have a couple of saved SQL scripts and and Excel sheet to pull out and format our time records into delivery notes that are sent with an invoice. It is so much simpler having the notes on the job, emails and time all in one place.
Then used Excel, CTRL & + to insert the date and CTRL & SHIFT & + to insert the time
We were wasting much time on timekeeping, so as we moved to OTRS I made the time field mandatory and used that. I have a couple of saved SQL scripts and and Excel sheet to pull out and format our time records into delivery notes that are sent with an invoice. It is so much simpler having the notes on the job, emails and time all in one place.
Andy888 said:
I'm an accountant and try to track my day in 15min blocks. Typically I used a spreadsheet and then transferred it into our finance system every week.
This year I am going old school and just writing in my diary as I go along. It is a discipline thing for me and the easier it is the more likely I will do it, hence my diary approach!
Holy cow, that sounds more like OCD than accounting!This year I am going old school and just writing in my diary as I go along. It is a discipline thing for me and the easier it is the more likely I will do it, hence my diary approach!
Am I alone in having thoughts that last for more than 15 minutes?
dilbert said:
Andy888 said:
I'm an accountant and try to track my day in 15min blocks. Typically I used a spreadsheet and then transferred it into our finance system every week.
This year I am going old school and just writing in my diary as I go along. It is a discipline thing for me and the easier it is the more likely I will do it, hence my diary approach!
Holy cow, that sounds more like OCD than accounting!This year I am going old school and just writing in my diary as I go along. It is a discipline thing for me and the easier it is the more likely I will do it, hence my diary approach!
Am I alone in having thoughts that last for more than 15 minutes?
enerally I work in terms of 1h30 here, 45 mins there, 4h15 here and so on. 6 minutes was a royal pain. But still I find a diary and pen immensely useful as it always there and takes no time to boot up :-) Oddly enough, despite all this our bills are still typed in MS Word!
I use freshbooks.com. It's free at small scale, they have time tracking widgets for OS X, Windows, iPhone etc. They have a full API for managing your time/expenses and you can raise invoices directly from your time and expenses data. There is also a lot of integration with services from other providers.
The caveat, for all these things, is you still need to remember to clock in and out, otherwise you'll have to go back and correct your hours.
The caveat, for all these things, is you still need to remember to clock in and out, otherwise you'll have to go back and correct your hours.
dilbert said:
Andy888 said:
I'm an accountant and try to track my day in 15min blocks. Typically I used a spreadsheet and then transferred it into our finance system every week.
This year I am going old school and just writing in my diary as I go along. It is a discipline thing for me and the easier it is the more likely I will do it, hence my diary approach!
Holy cow, that sounds more like OCD than accounting!This year I am going old school and just writing in my diary as I go along. It is a discipline thing for me and the easier it is the more likely I will do it, hence my diary approach!
Am I alone in having thoughts that last for more than 15 minutes?
Seriously. At first, it was a headache, and I was panicking about how I would account for two units of 'dump time', but then you realise that you don’t actually spend less than a couple of hours on one client or the other and in practise it wasn’t that onerous.
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