Daily Timekeeping
If you don’t document your time daily,
is it timekeeping?
If you don’t document your time daily, whatever it is, it isn’t timekeeping.
Chances are good that you do not document your time daily. You may even think it doesn’t make any difference. After all it takes more time and the results are the same. Right?
Does Daily Timekeeping take more time?
Of course not. Let’s compare 'once a day' to 'once a week'.
Once a day: Open Timesheet. Open email or some other tracking app that you use to jog your memory. Enter time on five billable projects and one general office project. Done. Elapsed time is 7 minutes. 35 minutes per week.
Once a week: Open Timesheet. Open email or some other tracking app that you use to jog your memory. Log each task as you find it, or make a note to avoid going back and forth between apps. Make 25 time entries on five billable projects and five entries on one general office project. Look for gaps in the time entries. Make adjustments. Done. Elapsed time is 46 minutes. You waste between five and ten minutes (or more) on handling five days in one session. You waste another five to ten minutes (or more) looking for gaps and making adjustments. However, you save four minutes (or less) by opening the apps just once.
Are the results the same as Daily Timekeeping?
Of course not. There is a zero chance that you can document durations as accurately after several days, unless ... you are keeping detailed notes every day.
That’s daily timekeeping, but you aren’t getting the benefits of daily timekeeping because your time wasn’t documented/shared until days or weeks later.
What are the benefits of daily timekeeping?
The benefits of daily timekeeping:
More income.
More honesty.
Better project management.
Faster invoicing.
Plus saving time on timekeeping.
More income – virtually nothing falls through the cracks so the firm gets paid for everything it does. More income for the same effort will lead to profit and bonuses.
More honesty – we all know that some people ‘game’ the system. When the reporting time frame is a week, two weeks, a month (horrors!), the time sheet exercise becomes more about "what should have happened" or "what you want ‘the boss’ to think happened". It’s a lie that hurts somebody – the client, the firm, co-workers. Trying to operate a firm based on dishonesty is going to undermine the firm's finances eventually. No profit, no bonuses, finally layoffs.
Better project management – a more realistic view of what is going on is a really good thing for everyone. You can’t fix problems that you don’t know about. Daily timesheets give you information about who’s working on what, and how much time has been spent for the results delivered. Knowing this, you can give kudos, or you can take corrective action.
Faster invoicing – when all the data is already in, invoicing can be done in a snap. Invoicing once a month means you have a lot of time that you have already paid out through payroll. Don’t wait another week or more before your client even sees the invoice, which is when the meter starts ticking on getting paid. If getting paid drags out too long, you will start thinking you need a 'working capital' loan to fill the gap between spending and income. Loans are only good for bankers.
Does your timekeeping system support daily timekeeping?
Do you get the benefits of daily timekeeping?
Or do you have to wait days or weeks to see the results?
How to get the advantages of daily timekeeping
Implementation
We were accustomed to twice monthly timesheets due on the 1st and the 16th of the month. When we first introduced daily timekeeping… The bitching was magnificent!
"The problems! The extra time! The disruptions!"
In less than one month everyone was on board and the world didn’t end as predicted. Make the new rule clear, set an example, and dun any slackers until they decide compliance is the lesser of two evils. Use embarrassment if needed. Every morning we sent a group email reminder about daily timesheets and listed who was missing timesheets.
The Ideal Timekeeping Tool
Here is the ideal - a cloud-based app. This means the software is accessed through your browser or a mobile app that runs on your phone or tablet. There is no software to maintain, no servers to own and your data is backed-up for you better than you would do it on your own; but you can still save your data by exporting it for extra security.
Once or more a day, you open the app in the browser you already use. This means you can be anywhere there is internet, or, if using your phone or tablet, you can be anywhere with a cellular signal. With a few clicks and key strokes you enter the projects/phases/tasks/hours and maybe a description of what you worked on. DONE. A few times a month you open a new project or phase. Until your Apple Vision Pros can record all this for you as you work, this is as simple as time sheets get.
Admittedly the time to make an entry isn't much different than using paper, but the simplicity comes from avoiding all the other hassles that you get from other methods - confusing, non-standard new entries; compiling the time by project; updating the form or spreadsheet; software and server 'overhead’.
The fact that your time is stored and compiled every day is an enormous advantage. Not even the networked accounting systems that I am familiar with let you see your month to date results any time that you like. (Accounting requires 'posting'.) It is really nice to know how the month, and each project, is going without waiting for the invoicing process to finally release what is now historical data.
Key features to look for
Cloud-based
Accessed by any device
Multi-user
Works the way you want to keep track of time (or at least pretty close)
Lets you set budgets in dollars and hours (dollars are best if you only get one)
Summarizes and reports the results by project against budgets
Affordable
Example to check out
Look for an app like this one that I built using CODA. You can experience here, or get your own copy to test out.