In the same vein, records of employees or team members working on a task or project are kept to know how much time spent on a task.
Time tracking refers to the means through which organizations or project managers record the working hours spent by employees on the job.
Time tracking has been a useful resource in the workplace for several reasons, in the past, time tracking was done manually; by entering the time you resume at work and leave in a physical document, fondly referred to as a timestamp, this method is popularly called the clocking in and out. Over the years and with the advent of technology, “clocking in and out” switched up and became digitalized in time tracking software. While it is possible to get the software with tools for the sole purpose of tracking time, innovations like Planless enables you to you carry out tasks on your projects while simultaneously tracking time.
Time tracking has been proved to be a crucial aspect for organizations from human resource to quality assurance, finance, stakeholders and project management amongst others. Time tracking if used correctly and with the right tools, provides your company with loads of useful data that can be used to spur critical business decisions–from project management to human resource needs. Using time tracking in project management allows a manager to keep track of a team’s performance, and this makes it easier to guesstimate future iterations, as it provides you with serial data on their past performance.
Although time tracking projects have numerous benefits, a first switch will make team members feel mistrusted. Project members are not paid to be lax around the workplace without giving their 100%, at least not like the man who went to work for years without doing nothing and still got paid. Members of a project team are meant to be productive, and this is why using the right tool is vital. It is only natural for employees to feel mistrusted at first but including time tracking in your projects as a manager should not be to micromanage them. Once employees are not micromanaged using a time tracker, the option will help them increase their productivity while reducing their stress levels simultaneously owing to more efficient time management.
WHY TRACK TIME?
Time tracking is a vital aspect of project management because it aligns with productivity, efficiency and quality assurance. Here are a few reasons why you should include time tracking in project management:
- Time is a limited asset during a project. It is imperative to track and plan a systematic expense of time to ensure the desired output; this will help differentiate between essential and non-essential tasks.
- Tracking time keeps you ahead of the deadlines of a project. Since Planless helps you to plan, manage and deliver your projects, the “Due Date” tool embedded on the platform to helps you to set deadlines to a task and gives you constant reminders so you can increase your pace on a given project to achieve the desired goal.
- A project manager can utilize the time-related reports from the previous task to project suitable completion time for a future task. The ‘Timeline’ feature on the platform allows you to analyze projects on a timeline view and see how everything pans out in time. Continually doing this improves efficiency in teammates and promises a faster delivery time for projects.
- Time tracking eliminates the problem of procrastination in teammates. With time tracking, people working on a project need not spend time trying to figure out what goals to achieve at the start of work
- Time tracking data helps in presenting evidence that you require more resources. The project manager shows the time tracked data to stakeholders to ask for help.
- Projects are delivered on time when time tracking is involved in a system, thereby spurring the client’s satisfaction.
- A project manager can acknowledge the strong point of team members with time tracking.
- Project management reports become more convincing with time tracking metrics. Stakeholders get to see the progression of a project with time and its on-time completion.
HOW TO MAKE TIME TRACKING COUNT!!!
CHOOSE THE APPROPRIATE TOOL: Choosing the right tool to track time for your project is as essential as time monitoring itself. It is necessary to pick software with tools that integrate with your team. On the other hand, think if it makes sense for you to choose time tracking software that is used for other team-related purposes, resource scheduling or availability management. Planless provides you with tools that allow you to manage goal-oriented tasks, including time tracking as a bonus.
ALWAYS EXPLAIN THE WHYS: It is not enough to dump a time tracking tool on your team members. Taking them through the advantages of the term will enable them to ease into it without feeling threatened.
FOCUS ON THE PROCESS NOT THE PRODUCT: It is a proven fact that tracking time helps the overall output of the project, but focusing on the numbers while explaining the need to make the switch to time tracking can be counterproductive. Instead, emphasize its effect on self-evaluation and constant development since time tracking seeks to see them become better at their jobs.
UTILIZE THE DATA: Time tracking provides you with data on the performance of your teams and the diminuendos between different members. This may assist you in improving the performance of teammates. A body of serial data should provide answers to the following:
Skill shortcomings. Is there any essential skill that a particular member of your team is missing? Does it slow down their performance or altogether hamper the completion of the task at hand? Can you provide them with the time and resources to acquire this skill?
Team productivity: How does the projected speed for a given team compare with their actual performance? Can you calculate the rate of the team?
Team dynamics: Does particular member coordination work well for a specific project? Is anyone making the team lag behind, or how smooth is the workflow?
Although starting time tracking with your team on projects may be a bumpy ride initially, the process can bring about efficiency, productivity and skill growth if tabled properly before team members.