time tracking software essay

Time Management Essay Outline: Boost Productivity & Success

Rosie Landry

As a professional writer, I know that time management is crucial for achieving success. Without it, tasks can pile up, deadlines can be missed, and stress levels can skyrocket. That’s why in this article, I’ll be discussing the importance of effective time management and how it can boost your productivity and success.

Table of Contents

Time management is not just about making the most of your time, but also about making the most of yourself. It’s a skill that can be learned and improved upon, and mastering it can have a significant impact on your personal and professional life.

Key Takeaways:

• Effective time management is crucial for achieving success
• Time management is a skill that can be learned and improved
• Mastery of time management can have a significant impact on personal and professional life

Understanding Time Management

Hello, and welcome to my article on time management! In this section, I’ll be discussing what time management is and why it’s so important in both our personal and professional lives.

Time management is the process of planning and organizing how much time you spend on various activities. This includes setting goals, prioritizing tasks, scheduling appointments, and making sure you have enough time to relax and unwind.

Effective time management is crucial because it allows us to make the most of our time. When we manage our time well, we’re able to get more done in less time, which means we have more time to focus on other things we enjoy. Additionally, time management helps minimize stress and increase overall productivity, leading to greater success both at work and in our personal lives.

Developing Time Management Skills

Effective time management is essential for achieving success in both personal and professional life. To develop strong time management skills, I recommend the following:

• Set goals: Clearly define your short-term and long-term goals to ensure that your time is spent on tasks that align with these objectives. Creating a list of priorities will help you prioritize tasks and track progress.
• Create a schedule: Map out your day and week, allocating time to specific tasks. This helps you stay on track and ensures that you have enough time to complete important tasks.
• Avoid distractions: Eliminate or minimize distractions during work hours. This includes social media, phone notifications, and even email notifications.
• Take breaks: Taking short breaks throughout the day can increase productivity and prevent burnout. Go for a walk, practice meditation, or simply step away from your workspace for a few minutes.
• Use time-saving tools: Automation tools can help streamline repetitive tasks and save time. For example, you can use tools like Grammarly to check your writing, or calendar apps to schedule meetings and appointments.

By implementing these strategies, you can boost your productivity and achieve more success in every aspect of your life.

Creating a Time Management Essay Outline

Now that we understand the importance of time management and have explored techniques for developing effective time management skills, let’s dive into how to create a time management essay outline.

The purpose of creating an outline for your essay is to organize your thoughts and ensure that your content flows logically. Here’s how to structure your time management essay:

• Introduction: Begin with an attention-grabbing statement or statistic to introduce the importance of time management. Provide some background information and explain the purpose of your essay. End with a thesis statement that outlines the main points you will cover in your essay.
• Point: Start with a clear and concise statement about the point you want to make.
• Explanation: Explain why this point is important in the context of time management.
• Example: Provide an example or anecdote to illustrate your point and make it more relatable to your readers.
• Conclusion: Summarize the main points covered in your essay and emphasize the importance of effective time management . Reinforce your thesis statement and leave your reader with a final thought or call to action.

By following this outline, your time management essay will be well-structured and easy to follow. Remember to keep your writing clear, concise, and relevant to the topic at hand.

Importance of Time Management in Academic Success

As a student, managing time effectively is crucial for achieving academic success. With competing demands such as lectures, assignments, and exams, effective time management can help you stay organized and focused.

One key benefit of good time management is improved studying quality. By allocating time for reading, research, and note-taking, you can optimize your study sessions and retain information more effectively.

Effective time management can also help you complete assignments on time, reducing the stress and anxiety associated with deadlines. With a clear schedule and specific deadlines set, you can work steadily towards completing tasks and avoid the last-minute crunch.

Furthermore, time management skills can enhance your exam preparation. By setting aside specific blocks of time for revision and practice exams, you can feel more confident and prepared when it comes to test day.

Overall, mastering time management skills can have a positive impact on your academic success. By allocating your time effectively, you can optimize your studying, complete assignments on time, and prepare thoroughly for exams.

Strategies for Effective Time Management

As a professional copywriting journalist, I know that effective time management is essential for achieving productivity and success. But knowing how to manage your time efficiently can be a challenge. Here are some strategies that have worked for me:

1. Prioritize Tasks

One of the most important steps you can take to manage your time effectively is to prioritize your tasks. Make a to-do list at the beginning of each day and rank tasks in order of importance. Focus on completing the most critical tasks first and work your way down the list.

2. Eliminate Distractions

Distractions can be a major time-waster. Try to eliminate distractions as much as possible. Turn off your phone or put it on silent mode, close unnecessary tabs on your computer, and find a quiet work environment. If you work in a noisy environment, consider using noise-cancelling headphones to help you focus.

3. Use Time-Saving Tools

There are many tools available to help you manage your time more efficiently. One example is time-tracking software, which allows you to monitor where you are spending your time and identify areas where you can improve. Other tools like calendar apps and project management software can help you stay organized and prioritize tasks.

4. Practice Time-Blocking

Time-blocking involves breaking your day into specific time blocks and allocating tasks to each block. For example, you might block off time for email and social media in the morning, then devote the afternoon to completing a specific project. This technique helps you stay on track and avoid procrastination.

5. Learn to Say “No”

One of the biggest time-management challenges is taking on too many tasks. Learn to say “no” to requests that are not essential or do not align with your goals. This will help you avoid overcommitting and ensure you have enough time for your top priorities.

By implementing these strategies, you can improve your time management skills and achieve greater productivity and success.

Balancing Work and Personal Life with Time Management

As a journalist balancing a demanding career and personal life, I understand the importance of effective time management in achieving a healthy work-life balance. It can be challenging to juggle multiple responsibilities, but with the right time management strategies, it’s possible to find harmony between work and personal commitments.

By implementing these tips, it’s possible to achieve a work-life balance that promotes overall success and well-being. Remember, effective time management isn’t about working more, it’s about working smarter and prioritizing what’s important.

Overcoming Time Management Challenges

As a professional copywriting journalist, I understand the challenges that come with managing time effectively. The constant distractions and interruptions can make it difficult to stay focused and productive. However, there are strategies you can implement to overcome these challenges and improve your time management skills.

Procrastination

One of the most common time management challenges is procrastination. It’s easy to put off tasks until the last minute, but this only leads to increased stress and reduced productivity. One way to overcome procrastination is to break down tasks into smaller, more manageable steps. Set deadlines for each step and hold yourself accountable. Additionally, try to eliminate any distractions that might be tempting you to procrastinate, such as your phone or social media.

Lack of Motivation

Another challenge is a lack of motivation . When you don’t feel motivated to complete a task, it can be hard to find the energy to get started. One technique for overcoming this challenge is to focus on the benefits of completing the task. For example, remind yourself of how good it will feel to cross the item off your to-do list. Additionally, try to find ways to make the task more enjoyable, such as listening to music or working in a comfortable environment.

Interruptions

Interruptions are another challenge that can disrupt your time management efforts. Whether it’s a co-worker popping into your office or the constant ping of incoming emails, interruptions can make it difficult to stay focused and productive. One way to overcome this challenge is to establish boundaries. Let your co-workers know when you are working on an important task and cannot be interrupted. Additionally, consider turning off notifications on your phone and computer to limit distractions.

By implementing these strategies, you can overcome common time management challenges and improve your productivity. Remember, effective time management takes practice and commitment, but the benefits are well worth the effort.

Time Management Techniques for Students

As a student, managing your time effectively can make the difference between academic success and failure. Here are some time management techniques that can help you maximize your productivity and achieve better results:

• Create a schedule: Planning your day in advance helps you stay on top of your schoolwork and other activities. Allocate blocks of time for studying, attending classes, and completing assignments.
• Use productivity apps: There are many apps available that can help you organize your tasks and stay focused. Some popular choices include Trello, Evernote, and Focus@Will.
• Practice time-blocking: This involves breaking your day down into segments and dedicating each one to a specific task. For example, you could dedicate one hour to studying for a particular subject.
• Optimize study time: When studying, it’s important to make the most of your time. Avoid distractions by studying in a quiet place, and take regular breaks to avoid burnout.
• Manage extracurricular activities: It’s important to balance your schoolwork with other activities. Prioritize your commitments and avoid overcommitting yourself.

By implementing these time management techniques, you can reduce stress, stay organized, and achieve your academic goals.

Benefits of Effective Time Management

Mastering time management skills can have numerous benefits for both your personal and professional life. Here are some of the key advantages:

Overall, effective time management can help you lead a more balanced, productive, and fulfilling life.

Conclusion on Time Management Essay Outline

As a professional copywriting journalist, I understand the value of time management in achieving success and productivity. In this article, we discussed the significance of time management in personal and professional life and explored tips for developing effective time management skills. Creating a time management essay outline is crucial for structuring your thoughts and ideas.

We also emphasized the role of time management in academic success, provided strategies for balancing work and personal life, and identified common challenges in managing time effectively. We discussed specific time management techniques that are helpful for students, such as time-blocking and using productivity apps.

The benefits of effective time management are numerous, including reduced stress, increased productivity, and improved overall well-being. It is essential to master time management skills for long-term success.

Implementing time management strategies can be challenging, but with perseverance and dedication, anyone can achieve success. By prioritizing tasks, eliminating distractions, and using time-saving tools, you can maximize your efficiency and productivity. Remember, time is a valuable resource, and managing it effectively is the key to success.

FAQ on Time Management Essay Outline

Q: what is time management.

A: Time management refers to the practice of planning and organizing one’s time effectively to achieve maximum productivity. It involves setting goals, prioritizing tasks, and allocating time appropriately to different activities.

Q: Why is time management important?

A: Time management is important because it allows individuals to make the most out of their finite time. By managing time effectively, one can accomplish more tasks, reduce stress, and achieve success in both personal and professional endeavors.

Q: How can I develop effective time management skills?

A: Developing effective time management skills can be achieved by setting goals, prioritizing tasks, creating schedules, and minimizing distractions. It is also essential to learn to delegate tasks and practice self-discipline.

Q: How do I create a time management essay outline?

A: To create a time management essay outline, start by introducing the topic and its importance. Then, structure your essay with a clear introduction, body paragraphs discussing relevant points, and a conclusion summarizing your key arguments.

Q: Why is time management important for academic success?

A: Time management is crucial for academic success as it allows students to effectively manage their study time, complete assignments on time, and adequately prepare for exams. It also helps in maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

Q: What are some strategies for effective time management?

A: Strategies for effective time management include setting priorities, eliminating distractions, using time-saving tools, and practicing good organization skills. It is also important to take regular breaks and avoid overloading oneself with tasks.

Q: How can time management help in balancing work and personal life?

A: Time management plays a key role in achieving a work-life balance by helping individuals allocate time for work, personal commitments, and self-care. It enables better planning and prioritization of activities to ensure all aspects of life are given proper attention.

Q: How can I overcome time management challenges?

A: Overcoming time management challenges can be done by addressing issues like procrastination, lack of motivation, and interruptions. Strategies such as setting realistic goals, breaking tasks into manageable steps, and practicing self-discipline can help overcome these challenges.

Q: What are some time management techniques for students?

A: Time management techniques for students include creating schedules, using productivity apps, practicing time-blocking, and setting specific study goals. It is also important for students to prioritize tasks, avoid multitasking, and seek help when needed.

Q: What are the benefits of effective time management?

A: Effective time management provides numerous benefits, including reduced stress levels, increased productivity, improved overall well-being, and the ability to achieve personal and professional goals. It also allows for better time utilization and enhances work-life balance.

Implementing effective time management strategies is crucial for boosting productivity and achieving success in various aspects of life. By managing time wisely, individuals can accomplish more, reduce stress, and lead a more fulfilling life.

About the author

I’m Rosie Landry, your friendly guide through the exciting world of practical management here on this blog. Here, I delve into everything from practical tips to complex theories of time management, combining scientific research with real-life applications. When I’m not writing about time management, you can find me with my nose in a gripping mystery novel, creating culinary delights, or out exploring nature with my faithful golden retriever, Marley. Join me as we discover how to take control of our time and enhance our lives together. If you need to reach out, do so here.

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What did the last decade teach me about the value of time tracking here are 7 lessons learned i’d like to share with you..

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I’ve been running a software development agency for 10+ years. During that time, I got to learn a lot about the reality of tracking time in a company. The problems I encountered on the way inspired me to build Weekly, a complete time and resource management solution for teams that is perfectly adapted to the needs of digital agencies.

So, what did the last decade teach me about the value of time tracking? Here are 7 lessons learned I’d like to share with you today.

1. I don’t draw meaningful productivity insights every month

When I started to get serious about time tracking, I thought I’d be analyzing my timesheets every month to find some valuable insights about my own productivity. Instead, I noticed that I’m doing that only once or twice per year.

Having said that, I should also admit that constant productivity analysis wasn’t the most important thing for me - or at least not as important as billing clients.

Still, here’s what I’ve learned: you need to log tasks for a long time before being able to notice patterns - for example, too little time spent on X, too much time spent on Y.

Lesson learned: An application that makes a note of your EVERY action doesn’t always give a lot of value. You might need to spend hours on ‘deciphering’ the automatically generated logs while actually needing this data for productivity analysis purposes only once or twice per year.

2. Being super accurate isn’t worth your time...

Generally, I found out that I don’t need to be as detailed with timesheets as I originally thought I should be.

At first, I was obsessed with timesheet accuracy. I had more than 30 different timers (I even had a few different ones for different types of breaks). I was changing times for 1-2 min tasks. I wrote little essays in descriptions.

Why did I do it? I assumed clients required it.

Now I see that I went a little too far - and spent way too much time on something that was supposed to make me more productive.

At the end of the day, it’s all a matter of trust. Clients need to trust you and you build your integrity when your actions follow your words. It’s not a matter of incredibly detailed and accurate time tracking.

Lesson learned: Now, I only capture the essentials: the project, the work category, and max 2-line description. Most of the time, a 15-min precision is good enough. In larger projects and bigger teams, clients actually want to see 8 hours worked during a day and don’t go into more detail than that. This relaxed approach also helps to avoid overburdening your team with too much bureaucracy.

3. ...but details still matter!

Having said that, I always keep diligent timesheets for the rainy day.

I always told my team to keep their timesheets up to date because you never know when the client might ask for them.

Projects go through different stages during their life cycles. There are better times, and there are worse times. Team members deal with different complexity of tasks at hand, and sometimes clients may be more confused, emotional, or uncertain than usual. This is why they might want to take a more careful look at the timesheets to understand the situation better - even if they’ve never done it before. We once worked with a client who did this after a few years of not looking at our timesheets at all!

If you have sloppy timesheets, they can break your relationship with the client because they undermine the trust you’ve built so far. But if you were diligent even while the client wasn’t looking, it’s going to paint a very reassuring picture for them.

Lesson learned: All in all, timesheets can help teams to keep healthy, honest, and transparent relationships with clients. This is especially important in agile teams that deal with a lot of change and uncertainties, so rely on client trust and feedback even more.

4. People always complain about time tracking, but they actually adapt very quickly

I met this person once. This person praised a certain integration in a project management solution and said it’s an absolute must-have for teams. But when I asked further questions, it turned out that this person used a different tool at work and wasn’t aware that the same integration was available for that tool. They never complained, so they never got to learn about it.

The truth is that people always complain about time tracking. But once you introduce a tool, they can adapt very easily - especially when you show them the benefits and listen to their feedback to implement the integrations they need.

Lesson learned: People generally don’t like changes. So it might seem that they’re always somewhat pessimistic about introducing a new solution or changing one tool to another. But don’t let this affect your approach to time tracking.

5. A simple time tracking process does the job

To get accurate and up-to-date data about time spent on tasks, you need your process to be really simple.

There’s no reason to get 100+ apps and integrations and then employ some large AI algorithm to track your time and give you insights.

Lesson learned: Don’t overdo it. A simple and intuitive interface, a logic that makes sense, and easy availability (in a browser, using the most common integrations) are all you need to make time tracking a source of powerful insights at your company.

6. Timesheets can be used to draw business intelligence (as long as you have the right tools)

A financial or operational analysis based on timesheets can open your eyes to your business's actual performance. You can see the revenue, labor costs, utility rates, and billable rates calculated on an intuitive interface and easily available to you.

But most time trackers are too simple to provide that level of insight. You might end up with lots of different spreadsheets that you need to manage and shape over time.

Lesson learned: This is why the choice of the time tracking solution is so important. It helps to centralize knowledge about your performance and automates a lot of manual tasks that take lots of time and effort.

I couldn’t find any solutions on the market that would provide this amount of details, so I decided to build my own tool. Weekly unlocks this value of time tracking and provides all the insights directly in the app for easy access.

7. It’s all about trust and performance

Let me get this straight:

People can cheat or manipulate timesheets.

But if you look at their performance regularly, you’ll be able to quickly notice that and take action.

Lesson learned: Timesheets aren’t a measure to control your team members. They’re a solution that introduces transparency and trust in your relationship with co-workers. Moreover, by introducing a time tracking tool and setting clear rules for using it, you’ll be offering them an opportunity to analyze and improve their performance.

If you’re looking for a time tracking tool that combines key features that allow this type of visibility, Weekly is a good match.

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20 Best Time Tracking Software Solutions in 2022

October 6, 2022 - 10 min read

For many, working from home and remote locations has become the norm. An increasing number of organizations have distributed teams across countries and time zones, with some employees' work hours overlapping or contrasting entirely with their team members. Tracking employees' working time has become crucial to help teams, managers, and professional service agencies to plan, collaborate, and allocate their organization's resources better. 

The right time tracking software makes a huge difference in organizing and synchronizing workers' schedules, abilities, and project contributions, increasing overall efficiency and profitability. 

This article details the importance of time tracking, the types of companies that can benefit from employee time tracker software, and the essential features you need in time tracking software. We'll also share a curated list of the top 20 time tracking solutions on the market in 2022, including each one's best features, recent customer reviews, and pricing.

Why is time tracking important?

Time tracking makes it easy for employees, collaborators, and managers to report to employers and clients on projects they're working on. It produces timesheets with actual figures showing how employees spend the time allocated to projects, tasks, or entire workdays. 

Tracking time helps managers to improve resource allocation , learn which team members are best at specific tasks, and streamline invoicing and billing when dealing with clients who pay by the hour. Project managers are better equipped to estimate and adjust team workloads, and accounting departments gather accurate customer invoicing and employee payroll data. 

What type of companies use time tracking software?

Time tracking is essential for many companies, from professional service providers to sales teams, IT companies, and construction and law firms. It is most beneficial for companies that need to calculate billable work , those with remote workforces, and employees traveling or out on the field. 

Here are a few examples of companies that may use time tracking software:

• Enterprises using employee time tracker software to forecast, budget, and allocate resources
• Agencies using time tracking software to assess employee productivity
• Consultants tracking time to create accurate timesheets for invoicing and billing clients
• Freelancers tracking their work hours to better estimate their ability and availability

Features to look for in employee time tracker software and apps

There are essential features you need in a time tracking tool. The features you need depend on how you plan to use the tool. What's most critical to a large company differs from what an individual needs.

Below are five features to look out for:

• Time tracking: This is a no-brainer. You need time tracking software that can automatically (and manually) monitor and log your working time without complicating your workflow.
• Timesheets: You need a time tracker that generates accurate, comprehensible, and useful timesheets you can download, export, save, and share as needed.
• Billing and invoicing: Your chosen time tracking app should convert your timesheets into figures the accounting department can use to invoice customers and pay employees with minimal human manipulation or errors.
• Reports and analytics: Another feature to look for is accuracy and relevance in the tool's reports. Specific metrics may be more important than others, depending on your business. Look for time tracking tools that report on the metrics that move your business.
• Alerts and notifications: Time tracking software notifications can help bring workers back to reality when they have been working too long or are close to an upcoming deadline. Look for software that prioritizes employee health and autonomy to maximize productivity without burnout.

Is free time tracking software worth the hassle?

You can only improve what you consistently measure. Free time tracking software makes it possible for those who cannot afford premium time tracking tools to put numbers on their work hours and productivity. 

While most free time trackers lack advanced features, they typically enable the basic ones, including manual or automatic time tracking. If your business needs more advanced features, e.g., the ability to download and share timesheets to bill clients, it's worth investing in a time tracking solution that provides them.

Best 2022 time tracking software and tools reviewed

Now let's get to our list of the top 20 time tracking software and tools you can choose from. 

Wrike’s time tracking software is a part of our premium project management platform for planning, managing, executing, and collaborating on tasks and projects. The time tracker helps managers to forecast, execute, and review project progress in time to deliver projects successfully. 

Whether you're an individual contributor, a part of a team, or a manager at a fast-paced organization, Wrike's time tracker provides the essential features that give you visibility and predictive data to achieve your goals. 

Wrike time tracking software features

Wrike time tracking provides the following core features: 

Automatic time tracking Tracking time in Wrike is incredibly simple. Once an employee is assigned a task, they can navigate to it and start the timer when they begin work. There's also the option to add a manual time log entry if you forget to start the timer when you begin a task.

Customizable timesheets Wrike makes it easy to edit, share, and export timesheets with team members and managers, facilitating transparency and visibility into employees' and team members' workdays. Knowing that sometimes, you may forget to track a task, Wrike makes it possible to add, edit, or delete time entries. To limit unethical manipulation, administrators can also lock timesheets.

Detailed reports and analytics Wrike’s time tracker shines when generating detailed reports and analytics with up-to-date data on your tasks and projects. You can choose the metrics you want to track, e.g., a report on all active tasks from a particular department or project folder. Analytics are displayed in a spreadsheet or visual format, depending on your preference and needs. 

Resource and workload perspective Time tracking makes forecasting and allocating resources and workloads much more efficient and easy for project managers and employers. Wrike provides multiple views of ongoing projects and team members' workloads. The resources view focuses on projects, while the workload charts show team members' assignments.

Easy integrations with other work apps  Connecting your time tracker to other work-critical applications, e.g., Google Calendar, Microsoft Teams, or even Jira, is vital for pulling all the valuable data and insights you need to understand how employees are spending time. Wrike integrates with many popular work tools , empowering team members to work more efficiently. 

iOS and Android mobile apps Wrike’s time tracker is easily accessible on mobile applications and the web app. Working away from the office or on the field does not pose a problem. Employees can continue to track time and make use of work hours using the Wrike mobile applications.

Highlights of Wrike time tracking software

Wrike is more than a time tracker. It packs a rich set of time tracking functionalities integrated with Wrike's premium project management features. This empowers project managers and teams to set up projects, assign tasks and projects to team members, and create timelines for each. Anyone can easily track their work and assess the value of each hour. 

Pricing plans

Wrike time tracking pricing plans include: 

• The Free plan with limited features 
• Paid plans from $9.80 per user per month

Find more information on Wrike's pricing plans and functionalities here . 

Customer ratings and reviews

On average, customers give Wrike 4.3 out of 5 stars.

The final word

Users find it easy to track time for different tasks and projects using Wrike. The software provides advanced features and a straightforward process to integrate project management requirements into one platform. 

2. TimeCamp

TimeCamp is a free time tracker for freelancers, agencies, and companies to track working hours and bill easily for projects. The software provides timesheets and reports that enable project managers to track project performance in real time and maximize the use of available resources.

TimeCamp time tracking software features

The TimeCamp time tracking software provides the following core features:

• Employee attendance tracker
• Productivity analysis and reports
• Customer invoicing and employee payroll
• Integration with popular work tools and apps 
• Web and mobile applications (Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android)

Highlights of TimeCamp time tracking software

TimeCamp enables workers and organizations to streamline the way they track time manually and automatically. This is paired with straightforward billing and invoicing functionalities, which help to save time on non-billable tasks. 

TimeCamp pricing plans include: 

• The Basic plan at $7 per user per month
• The Pro plan at $10 per user per month
• Custom quotes for the Enterprise plan

Find more information on TimeCamp's pricing plans and functionalities here . 

On average, customers give TimeCamp 4.7 out of 5 stars. 

Users love the easy-to-navigate user interface but find that integrations don’t always function properly. The software monitors employee productivity levels and tracks their daily project progress.

Harvest is an employee time tracking app for managers and administrators to gain insights into their teams' work and productivity over time. The software provides invoicing and payments and gathers insights from past projects and tasks to generate reports that help managers plan better for future projects.

Harvest time tracking software features

Harvest time tracking software provides the following core features: 

• Visual reports
• Customer invoicing and payments
• Integrations with payment providers
• Integrations with popular work tools and apps
• Web and mobile applications (Mac, Windows, iOS, Android)

Highlights of Harvest time tracking software

With Stripe and PayPal integrations, Harvest allows users to send invoices to clients and customers straight from the app. The app sends automatic notifications and reminders to clients, which saves time.

Harvest pricing plans include: 

• The Pro plan at $12 per user per month

You can find more information on Harvest's pricing plans and functionalities here . 

On average, customers give Harvest 4.6 out of 5 stars. 

Harvest provides a simple way to track employee time. Project managers can create and assign projects and tasks to team members, keep track of each one, and compare it to the total number of hours allotted for the entire project. Some users find the interface difficult to use.

4. Toggl Track

Toggl Track is an employee time tracker software that helps project managers and human resource personnel manage time tracking, team and project planning, and hiring for digital teams and remote staff. 

Toggl time tracking software features

The Toggl tracker app provides the following core features: 

• Detailed reports
• Calendar integrations
• Idle time detection notifications 
• Web and mobile applications (Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, Chrome)

Highlights of Toggl time tracking software

Toggl Track is easy to navigate and use. The project, timelines, and budget planning functionalities make it a reasonable solution for many types of businesses.

Toggl Track pricing plans include: 

• The Team plan at $9 per user per month
• The Business plan at $15 per user per month

Find more information on Toggl Track pricing plans and functionalities here . 

On average, customers give Toggl Track 4.7 out of 5 stars. 

Toggl generates in-depth reports and helps to create projects you can keyword in and start tracking your time. Users like the ease of use and straightforward process, but find it difficult to switch to the app quickly.

5: DeskTime

DeskTime is an all-in-one time tracker software with features for managing projects and supporting human resources. The software prioritizes employee productivity and goes beyond monitoring web clicks and activity. 

DeskTime software features

DeskTime time tracking software provides the following core features: 

• Pomodoro timer
• Random screenshots
• Idle time detection
• Integrations with many popular work tools

Highlights of DeskTime time tracking software

DeskTime allows each department to establish what constitutes productive work for their teams. Each department can categorize tools, websites, and apps into "Productive" and "Unproductive" groups. 

DeskTime pricing plans include: 

• The Lite (free) plan with limited features
• The Pro plan at $7 per user per month
• The Premium plan at $10 per user per month
• The Enterprise plan at $20 per user per month

Find more information on DeskTime pricing plans and functionalities here . 

On average, customers give DeskTime 4.5 out of 5 stars.

DeskTime helps to estimate how much time a team member spends on each case so that they’re paid accordingly. DeskTime integrates well with other tools which increases productivity for many users — however, it can occasionally be glitchy. 

6. My Hours

My Hours is a time tracking tool that focuses on empowering solo business owners and independent professional agencies rather than monitoring employee activity. The software allows users to manually and automatically track work hours and manage timesheets and expenses. 

My Hours time tracking software features

My Hours provides the following core features:

• Timesheet management
• Project and timeline management
• Invoicing and billing
• Vacation and leave tracking
• Web and mobile applications (Desktop, iOS, Android)

Highlights of My Hours time tracking software

My Hours streamlines how teams work together. It keeps the focus on improving project profitability and limiting non-billable administrative tasks. It also prioritizes employee autonomy and does not support monitoring via website clicks or GPS tracking.

My Hours pricing plans include: 

• The Free plan with limited features

You can find more information on My Hours pricing plans and functionalities here . 

On average, customers give My Hours 4.8 out of 5 stars. 

My Hours has a clean, crisp interface, which allows users to enter hours by project and task with tags either manually or via automatic time tracking. It is great for sharing timesheets and links with clients and employers, but some users find it tricky to switch from one time tracking mode to another.

7. QuickBooks Time

QuickBooks Time by Intuit is a time tracking tool for mid to large-sized businesses. The software offers time tracking functionalities that monitor employee activity, including GPS tracking. As a sub-product of QuickBooks, a widely-used business accounting software , it’s an easy choice for tied-in businesses.  

QuickBooks Time software features

QuickBooks Time provides the following core features:

• GPS-based tracking for remote staff
• Employee scheduling and attendance tracking 
• Easy payroll and invoicing integration with QuickBooks
• Integrations with many popular work tools and apps
• Web and mobile applications (Web, iOS, Android)

Highlights of QuickBooks Time tracking software

QuickBooks Time integrates seamlessly with QuickBooks, which is helpful for tied-in businesses. 

QuickBooks Time pricing plans include: 

• The Elite plan at $40 per month (+ $10 per user per month)
• The Premium plan at $20 per month (+ $8 per user per month)

Find more information on QuickBooks Time pricing plans and functionalities here . 

On average, customers give QuickBooks Time 4.7 out of 5 stars.

QuickBooks Time makes tracking employees' work hours, activities, and locations easy. It also integrates with the QuickBooks accounting software program, so businesses that use both tools can manage both functions. However, it can become expensive as you add more collaborators and employees.

8. Time Doctor

Time Doctor is a time tracker for hybrid and remote teams that offers project management and team supervision. The software promotes transparency and provides visibility whether your employees are in the office, on the road, or working from remote locations.

Time Doctor time tracking software features

Time Doctor provides the following core features:

• GPS tracking
• Chat monitoring
• Random screenshots of employees' work
• Tracks employee's online activity and history
• Idle detection and distraction notifications

Highlights of Time Doctor time tracking software

Time Doctor enables managers to pay employees and collaborators directly from the software. 

Time Doctor pricing plans include: 

• The Standard plan at $10 per user per month
• The Premium plan at $20 per user per month

Find more information on Time Doctor pricing plans and functionalities here . 

On average, customers give Time Doctor 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Time Doctor helps control employee productivity and monitor web browsing activity and app usage. It automatically calculates the amount of money to be paid out depending on the number of hours worked, including overtime. However, employees can find the notifications to be invasive and annoying.

9. Timesheets.com

Timesheets.com is a straightforward employee time tracking software for teams of any size. It has a feature set that includes time tracking and logging, employee scheduling, and billing and invoicing.

Timesheets.com tracking software features

Timesheets.com provides the following core features:

• Calendar management
• Employee web activity tracking 
• Billing and invoicing
• Easy-to-generate reports

Highlights of Timesheets.com time tracking software

Timesheets.com keeps things simple and does just what it's supposed to do. It provides a simple and affordable option for freelancers and small businesses to share their work with clients and get paid easily.

Timesheets.com pricing plans include: 

• The Freelancer plan at $0 per user 
• The Standard plan at $4.50 per user
• The Non-profit plan at $3.60 per user

Find more information on Timesheets.com pricing plans and functionalities here . 

Customer ratings and review

On average, customers give Timesheets.com 4.7 out of 5 stars.

Timesheets.com is a web application that makes it easy for anyone to keep track of work hours and calculate payroll easily. It provides the basic functionalities to help you track time, but it can be difficult to adjust the format.

10. Hubstaff

Hubstaff is a time tracking tool for remote and off-site teams and outsourced collaborators. It tracks web activity and offline GPS locations for those out of the office. This allows project managers to know what their team members are doing and where they are at any time. 

Hubstaff time tracking software features

The Hubstaff time tracking software provides the following core features:

• Online timesheets and templates
• Employee invoicing and payroll
• Web and mobile applications (Mac, Windows, Chromebook, Linux, iOS, Android)

Highlights of Hubstaff time tracking software

Hubstaff helps teams that do not work in a single place to have a common workspace and manage employee productivity and collaboration.  

Hubstaff pricing plans include:

• The Desk Free plan at $0 for only one user 
• The Desk Starter plan at $7 per user per month
• The Desk Pro plan at $10 per user per month

Find more information on Hubstaff's pricing plans and functionalities here . 

On average, customers give Hubstaff 4.6 out of 5 stars.

Hubstaff is great for managing remote teams in different places. It helps to track tasks, project progress, and expenses and has many other features to make projects run smoothly. Some users complain that it doesn’t accurately track productivity as it fails to account for offline work.

11. Resource Management by Smartsheet

Resource Management by Smartsheet provides a time tracker to empower large teams to streamline their timesheets, employee activity, and resource allocation in one centralized platform. The software gathers data and insights in a spreadsheet-style format, giving users the ability to see what teams are working on and what resources they need to deliver successful projects.

Resource Management by Smartsheet software features

Resource Management by Smartsheet provides the following core features:

• Dynamic reports
• Manual and automatic timesheets
• Project and timeline planning
• Integration with Smartsheet work management software
• Time tracking for resource management workflows

Highlights of Resource Management by Smartsheet tracking software

This software helps managers save time by centralizing resource allocation and project management decisions in one place. Users get more benefits when they integrate the time tracker with Smartsheet's work management software. 

Resource Management by Smartsheet pricing plans include: 

• The Pro plan at $9 per user per month
• The Business plan at $32 per user per month

Find more information on Resource Management by Smartsheet pricing plans and functionalities here . 

On average, customers give Resource Management by Smartsheet 4.2 out of 5 stars.

This app provides detailed data on resource usage across an organization’s projects — however, it’s not easy to link resources to managers or connect timesheets to the master schedule.

12. Buddy Punch

Buddy Punch is a punch clock and time tracker app that helps monitor employees at work, including attendance, activity, location, productivity, and payroll. It is a program that keeps managers up to date on projects and teams without manual data entry and check-ins.

Buddy Punch time tracking software features

Buddy Punch time tracking software provides the following core features:

• IP address lock-in
• Employee scheduling
• Web and mobile applications (Windows, iOS, Android, Chrome)

Highlights of Buddy Punch time tracking software

Buddy Punch is user-friendly. Customer support is responsive, and the software is continually upgraded to satisfy users' needs.  

Buddy Punch's pricing plans include: 

• The Standard plan at $3.49 per user per month (+$19 base fee per month)
• The Pro plan at $4.49 per user per month (+$19 base fee per month)

Find more information on Buddy Punch pricing plans and functionalities here . 

On average, customers give Buddy Punch 4.8 out of 5 stars. 

Buddy Punch is easy to use and intuitive. Users can integrate time tracking with payroll and other advanced functionalities, but the PTO functionality is lacking.

13. Bill4Time

Bill4Time is a specialized time tracking tool for professionals and agencies in the legal industry. It provides a set of time tracking, billing, invoicing, and case and task management functionalities that helps free up time for lawyers and others in the legal space to run their practice. 

Bill4Time software features

The Bill4Time time tracking software provides the following core features:

• Time tracking
• Expense tracking
• Online payments 
• Web and mobile applications (desktop, iOS, Android)

Highlights of Bill4Time software

Bill4Time is designed for professionals in the legal space. Its functionalities allow solo practitioners and independent firms to track billable and non- billable hours and keep their cases and projects in order. 

Bill4Time's pricing plans include: 

• The Time & Billing plan at $29 per user per month
• The Legal Pro plan at $49 per user per month
• The Legal Enterprise plan at $89 per user per month

Find more information on Bill4Time pricing plans and functionalities here .

On average, customers give Bill4Time 4.8 out of 5 stars.

Bill4Time is easy to use and has specific functionalities for its target market. However, some users report that customer support is unsatisfactory.

14. ATracker

ATracker is different from most other apps on this list because it works mainly on mobile. Its iOS and Android apps are more of a personal time tracker than employee time tracker software. 

ATracker time tracking software features

The ATracker time tracking software provides the following core features:

• Visual reports 
• Customizable time logs 
• Customizable UI
• Task history with search function
• Mobile applications (iOS, Android)

Highlights of ATracker time tracking software

ATracker is relatively easy to use. Its features help modern professionals take control of their days by tracking both work and personal responsibilities.

ATracker's pricing plans include: 

• The Free plan at $0
• The Premium plan at $2.99 per month
• The ATracker PRO plan at $4.99 for a one-time cost
• The ATracker (IAP Upgrade) plan at $2.99 for a one-time cost

Find more information on ATracker's pricing plans and functionalities here .

On average, iOS users give ATracker 4.7 out of 5 stars.

ATracker helps you fill in all the tasks you do in a day and click between them to time them easily. It's great for keeping track of both personal and work tasks and habits.

15. RescueTime

RescueTime is a time tracking solution for people looking to up their productivity and quantify where their time goes. It is less about employee monitoring and business invoicing and more about individuals designing a self-quantified life.  

RescueTime software features

The RescueTime time tracking software provides the following core features:

• Set priorities and daily goals
• Productivity summary reports
• Block specific URLs to limit distractions
• Notifications to keep your focus on your main task
• Mobile and web applications (Mac, Windows, Linux, Android)

Highlights of RescueTime software

RescueTime helps solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and team members in organizations set intentional daily goals and track their progress. 

RescueTime's pricing plans include: 

• RescueTime Free plan with limited features
• RescueTime Premium plan at $6.50 per month

Find more information on RescueTime pricing plans and functionalities here .

On average, customers give RescueTime 4.6 out of 5 stars. 

RescueTime sends regular productivity reports, which helps users find time-wasters in their day and plan projects better. This helps users become aware of where their time goes and what to focus on to become more productive. However, its interface could be more user-friendly.

Tick is built for freelancers, consultants, and solo entrepreneurs. It tracks how much time you spend on projects and tasks in an effort to improve your project planning timelines and budget estimations for future projects. 

Tick time tracking software features

The Tick time tracking software provides the following core features:

• Tracking budgets and timelines
• Reusable project templates
• Integrate billing and invoicing with QuickBooks
• Integrations with other popular work tools and apps
• Web and mobile applications (Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, Chrome, Apple Watch) 

Highlights of Tick time tracking software

With each new time or task entry, Tick updates how much resources and time you have left to complete the project or task. It notifies you when you're running low or about to exceed your time and budget. 

Tick's pricing plans include: 

• The 1 Project plan for free
• The 10 Project plan at $19 per month
• The 30 Project plan at $49 per month
• The 60 Project plan at $79 per month
• The Unlimited Project plan at $149 per month

Find more information on Tick pricing plans and functionalities here .

On average, customers give Tick 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Tick is mostly easy to use, though some users find the system for classifying projects confusing. Users can set and track task schedules and budgets for multiple projects and see how well they use their time to achieve set goals.

17. ProofHub

ProofHub is a project management software with a time tracking feature. The software is made for teams and project managers who want visibility into ongoing projects. It provides customizable timesheets for customer invoicing, employee payroll, and project/budget estimation.

ProofHub time tracking software features

ProofHub time tracking software provides the following core features:

• Advanced project management features
• In-app communication 
• Web and mobile applications (desktop, Android, iOS)

Highlights of ProofHub time tracking software

ProofHub offers fixed pricing regardless of the number of users an organization has. This makes it a smart choice for teams scaling quickly and working regularly with contractors. 

ProofHub's pricing plans include: 

• The Essential plan at $50 per month
• The Ultimate Control plan at $99 per month

Find more information on ProofHub pricing plans and functionalities here .

On average, customers give ProofHub 4.5 out of 5 stars.

ProofHub is great for managing teams and collaborations, but the UI can have a steep learning curve. The platform has in-app communication features that enable you to upload and share media, documents, and links while chatting with team members in real time.

Float is a project and resource management tool for professional service agencies and IT firms. It helps streamline projects, tasks, and team management. The time tracking feature may be oversimplified. You can see the difference between your planned and logged hours, but not how you spent your time. 

Float time tracking software features

The Float time tracking software provides the following core features:

• Resource scheduling
• In-app communication
• Team management and calendar syncing

Highlights of Float time tracking software

Float is easy to use. It doesn't overcomplicate the time tracking process and provides just enough details to keep a team or employee on track with their project goals.  

Float's pricing plans include: 

• The Resource Planning plan at $7.50 per user per month
• The Resource Planning + Time Tracking plan at $12.50 per user per month

Find more information on Float pricing plans and functionalities here .

On average, customers give Float 4.5 out of 5 stars. 

Float is a good, collaborative project management tool. It's easy to learn and visually appealing to present project plans to team members and project managers — however, version control can sometimes be an issue with the app.

Timely simply handles automatic time tracking for companies. The software captures employee clicks and online activity and records the amount of time spent on everything. This includes time in meetings, documents, emails, and even offline with GPS tracking. 

Timely time tracking software features

The Timely time tracking software provides the following core features:

• Digital activity tracking
• Customizable timesheets
• Web and mobile applications (desktop, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android))

Highlights of Timely software

Depending on your settings, personal data gathered on the app is kept private to you. Managers can access these insights by requesting adequate permissions. 

Timely's pricing plans include: 

• The Starter plan at $10 per user per month
• The Premium plan at $18 per user per month
• The Unlimited plan at $26 per user per month
• Custom quotes for the Unlimited+ plan

Find more information on Timely pricing plans and functionalities here .

On average, customers give Timely 4.7 out of 5 stars.

Timely is good time tracking software with many essential features. Users can easily create and schedule tasks and track workflows.

20. HourStack

HourStack provides a simplified time tracking tool to help small teams achieve maximum efficiency and successful collaboration. The software helps schedule and track team hours and gain insights from team members' working hours and performance.

HourStack software features

The HourStack time tracking software provides the following core features:

• Time tracking 
• Team management
• Calendar synchronization
• Integrations with popular project management tools

Highlights of HourStack time tracking software

HourStack combines time tracking and calendar synchronization to improve collaboration and efficiency. It is a lightweight time tracking tool that becomes more powerful when integrated with more robust project management software. 

HourStack pricing plans include: 

• The Personal plan at $12 per month for only one user 
• The Team plan at $15 per user per month

Find more information on HourStack pricing plans and functionalities here .

On average, customers give HourStack 4.8 out of 5 stars. 

HourStack has a drag-and-drop feature that makes it easy to move and schedule tasks. This makes weekly planning easy for teams of any size. However, some users report that the app crashes from time to time, and there are features missing for administrators.

How to get started with Wrike's time tracking software

Are you wondering if you're using your work hours wisely? Is your organization running a remote or hybrid workforce or regularly working with contractors?  

If you're often running out of time and unable to deliver successful projects or allocate budgets and resources efficiently, Wrike time tracking software is the right fit for you. You can monitor your team's time on projects and tasks with Wrike's time tracker and use this visibility to refine your time and resource management.

Get started with a two-week free trial of Wrike today, and begin a new and more productive way of working.

Kelechi Udoagwu

Kelechi is a freelance writer and founder of Week of Saturdays, a platform for digital freelancers and remote workers living in Africa.

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The Ultimate Guide to IT PMOs

Companies with large IT departments and projects have complex needs that require advanced solutions. IT project management offices, also known as IT PMOs,  offer oversight, guidance, and tools that will make your organization more productive and make it easier to scale.  But what exactly is an IT PMO? What are the core IT PMO objectives and how can your IT department adopt best practices? Here’s everything you need to know to get started.  What is an IT PMO? An IT PMO is a project management system that delivers high-quality results in the most efficient ways possible. Any project that involves information technology, no matter the size or urgency, will fall under the responsibility of an IT PMO.  All PMOs involve a combination of goal setting, strategy, and organization. These qualities are essential when it comes to IT because of this department’s unique needs. Issues such as standardization and reducing task repetition across departments are all resolved when teams use an IT PMO.  Businesses may opt to have an overall organization PMO and an IT PMO. This makes it easier to drill down on the specific technical aspects of IT that only experts fully understand. An IT PMO has experience working with a wide range of IT-specific tasks. But, more importantly, they have enough of an understanding about the challenges, potential obstacles, and resources required to complete nearly any given IT project. They can also keep up with IT project management trends while maintaining established initiatives.  This leads to more accurate forecasting and smarter planning. And when trial and error isn’t an option (which is the case for most businesses), combining the powers of a business PMO with an IT PMO can ensure alignment between overall business goals and specific IT project needs.  The most common uses for an IT PMO include updating tools and software. It’s also used for scaling workloads without increasing team sizes. And when new regulations or compliance issues arise, IT PMOs can strategically slip these tasks among ongoing or long-term projects without significant disruption to delivery timelines.  What are the objectives of an IT PMO? The main objectives of an IT PMO include:  1. Policy creation Policy creation for project management means creating big-picture guidelines for all IT projects. These guidelines dictate expectations for what is accomplished and how it should be executed. There may be separate policies for more complex or sensitive tasks, which is another reason why having a dedicated IT project management team is so beneficial.  2. Team training New team members and third-party contractors may need help developing the skills needed to complete their assignments. An IT PMO will not only schedule and set up team training, but they may also provide one-on-one consulting wherever needed.  3. Resource allocation and distribution IT PMOs ensure that each project has exactly what it needs while maintaining a balance of resources across all other active projects. If there are competing needs, it’s the IT PMO’s job to prioritize them. And when unexpected problems arise, the IT PMO will be responsible for shifting resources in order to keep everything on track.  4. Process development A large part of why it’s important to hire experienced IT professionals to command your IT PMO is because they’ll largely be responsible for outlining workflows. These processes will range from small tasks, such as submitting deliverable approvals, to large ones, such as onsite hardware installations.  5. Standardization To keep teams aligned with clients, legal, and HR, there will need to be some standardization in place. Not only will the IT PMO find a way to consolidate these various sources of input into one cohesive list of practices, but they’ll also be in charge of monitoring and adjusting as needed.  6. Adherence to protocol Whether it’s safety standards or intellectual property development, IT PMOs ensure adherence to protocol by monitoring performance across all active department projects. This also means providing solutions to possible breaches before they happen.  7. Improved collaboration and communication In general, an IT PMO is the head of all projects, which means they can oversee important day-to-day team needs. Improved collaboration comes from having strong guidance and a clear path forward. What’s more, improved communication relies on having a system in place that makes sense with how IT operates. An IT PMO will provide both.  8. Detailed reporting and data insight  One of the most important functions of an IT PMO is to continuously improve their department. That can mean everything from improving how they work to the products they produce.  Would an IT PMO benefit your company? If your company has ever had issues with project delivery, decision-making, or resource management, an IT PMO would be beneficial.  Without an IT PMO, projects may not be delivered on time or on budget. Or, if they do meet those initial benchmarks, quality might be wavering from project to project. An IT PMO uses the power of data insight and organization to predict the success of a project, given the other obstacles departments may already be facing. That includes certain task dependencies, employee workloads and scheduling, and roadblocks from one project that may domino into others.  IT PMOs also help with decision-making. They have a clear understanding of what the business needs and what the IT department needs better than anyone else. They also have access to facts and figures that can help C-Suite executives better understand which goals are realistic. And as experienced IT consultants themselves, IT PMOs can provide advanced insight on reports that general PMOs might miss.  In regards to resource management, an IT PMO is trained to work with what they have to achieve their goal. For example, this means working with the teams they have while limiting hiring, saving money long-term. This also means having a more accurate understanding of how long certain IT tasks realistically take and scheduling them accordingly.  What is an IT PMO organizational structure? An IT PMO organizational structure outlines the flow of communication and command within the department. It’s often depicted as a flow chart. There are various ways teams can organize their IT project management teams, but the most common ones often include the head of the organization at the top, followed by the PMO, with each department division underneath.  Interdepartmental IT PMO organizational structure will often flow from IT directors to IT managers to IT project managers. An organization can choose between placing business PMOs and IT PMOs side by side or deferring to the IT PMO as head of their department while still under the larger organization’s PMO umbrella.  What are IT PMO metrics? IT PMO metrics are used to measure the success of an IT project. The information used is quantifiable and aligns with established goals. The metrics themselves may vary project to project. They also vary business to business depending on what information they have access to and what they’re striving to achieve. In general, IT PMOs can count on using PMO metrics that cover three essential categories: strategy, process, and deliverables. IT PMO metrics should be defined both for the department as a whole and for each new project.  The metrics are used for creating smarter goal benchmarks for improvement later on. They also gauge progress against past performance. IT PMO metrics, in particular, offer additional insight into how the department functions in comparison to other departments so that executives can be sure their relative success is on par with the rest of the organization’s standards.  What are the IT PMO best practices you need to know? 1. Focus on hiring talent that is highly skilled and collaborative. While the former has historically been the only top recruitment priority, studies and anecdotal evidence found in modern texts such as Brotopia by Emily Chang provide a strong case for myth-busting the ‘lone wolf’ ideal in IT.  2. Have a continuous growth mindset. Not only is an IT PMO responsible for daily operations and big-picture goals, but they are also responsible for implementing helpful changes along the way. These changes can be small or large, but they must all align with strategy, be monitored for effectiveness, and be adjusted as needed.  3. Educate other departments and executives on IT projects. Helping other decision-makers understand what your department does and how it affects the greater ecosystem of your organization can go a long way towards improved collaboration long-term. The key is to strike a balance between empowering your audience and talking down to them about the more technical aspects.  4. Be proactive at every level. Look ahead for ways to improve repeatable tasks. Forecast potential project delays or resource depletion before they come up. Anything the IT PMO can do now to mitigate risk and delays will pay off in dividends almost immediately.  5. Choose starting where you are over reinventing the wheel. Many IT departments have some level of project organization established even if they don’t call it that. It’s easier to adapt systems that are working well rather than force the entire team to take on entirely new habits. Perform a teamwide diagnostic before implementing new practices when switching over to IT PMO leadership.  What should you expect from an IT PMO tool? Simply put, you should expect an IT PMO tool to make your projects faster and easier. You can templatize past successful projects for new work. This will decrease the time spent planning recurring tasks and projects so teams can focus on higher ROI activity. You can also find ways to automate notifications such as task dependencies so that your team is always on top of what’s due next.  An IT PMO tool can even automate administrative tasks and streamline team communication. Collaborators will chat directly within the tasks themselves so that everyone who participates can view the history and get caught up. You can also loop other voices in simply by using @ mentions.  Additionally, your IT PMO tool will have visual graphs, charts, and task allocations. This makes information easier to understand at a glance. IT PMO tools such as Wrike also offer personal dashboards so that each team member can focus on information that’s most relevant to their role when logging on.  Reporting and data analysis across all active projects is another key benefit of an IT PMO tool. You can quickly pull reference numbers in meetings, provide statistical backup for client calls, and make better, more informed decisions on the fly.  How to set up and maintain your IT PMO with Wrike Brands like Dish, Fitbit, and Solera use Wrike as their set up and maintain their IT PMO. Here’s how they do it:  Onboard and train users. The executive teams at Dish said that their expectations for adoption were exceeded thanks to the support they received from the Wrike team.  Establish your one source of truth. Wrike offers IT teams a space for organizing projects but it also offers advanced data reporting capabilities so teams can make better decisions.  Share timeline reports. Communicate with business PMO and key stakeholders using timeline reports that clearly and accurately set expectations for project deadlines.  Centralize project management. If you have projects being managed under a variety of different tools, Wrike can help consolidate all active and new assignments while also providing a clear view into interdependencies.  Try dynamic timelines. Fitbit used Wrike to plan, prioritize, and assign work without taking away necessary resources from other projects. Full transparency across all assignments means you’ll know how these changes will affect the IT department and the company at large.  Defend against burnout. Wrike gives users like Fitbit the ability to view and strategically use employee availability so that managers can assign tasks based on skills needed and their other active projects.  Optimize processes. Solera uses Wrike’s request forms, Calendar function, and project status reports so the entire global team can keep track of what’s going on at any given moment.  Take advantage of Wrike’s helpful project management features to get your entire IT department aligned with your goals. Sign up for a free two-week trial and discover why world-renowned IT companies trust Wrike to manage and execute their projects. 

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7 Powerful Benefits of Time Tracking Software

Understanding how your team members spend their time at work and the amount of resources they need to accomplish a task is crucial when it comes to planning and allocating resources for future projects. 

The best way to gather these insights is by tracking the time spent on tasks and projects with intuitive time tracking software. Data collected from time tracking provides valuable operational insights that help you make informed business decisions. 

Time tracking software also makes tracking your team’s productivity and performance simple. For example, you can identify areas where employees can improve their performance by monitoring the amount of time spent on tasks and projects. This also allows you to accurately measure employee progress on projects over time.

These are just a few of the many ways time tracking can benefit your business. In this article we’ll lay out how time tracking software helps you: 

• Generate accurate reports
• Track hours worked

Group team activities into categories

• Create metrics to gauge the effectiveness and efficiency
• Analyze data for key insights
• Create more accurate reports
• Automate scheduling 

Collecting and analyzing more accurate data can help you make easier decisions and improve the efficiency of your operations, which will lead to greater success of your projects.

Generate reports based on accurate data through time tracking

Time tracking is essential for any business that wants to establish accuracy and efficiency, especially when it comes to completing tasks on time, staying within budget, and generating accurate reports.

Staying on budget and making accurate estimates about the project scope requires the input of real data to understand the length, labor hours, and other resources needed to accomplish the tasks. 

With the type of data provided by time tracking tools like Harvest, you can inform your organization to make better decisions and avoid making mistakes without realizing it. 

Ensure that the report you generate best represents how each department works, what areas need improvement, and how resources are used. If you're looking for more accurate data and to make better decisions in the future, start tracking time within your organization.

Track hours worked (billable and non-billable)

The first step in creating an accurate report is logging all of the individual worker’s hours. This step can be quite challenging by itself, but even more so if you employ remote workers and independent contractors. 

Traditionally, companies track time by manually filling out timesheets for each worker or through digital trackers such as an attendance monitoring system.

However, keeping track of the total hours and resources allocated with time tracking software helps with cost estimation, payroll, and productivity analysis. Then, you can use the insights into employee performance to highlight whether you need to devote more resources or add additional training for your team to succeed.

Automating many of the more time-consuming operations like writing down hours, transcribing them to a digital format, producing spreadsheets, generating reports, and managing accounting processes will save your management teams an immense amount of time that they could dedicate toward other equally important tasks. 

Gaining insights into your team’s workflows and overall productivity will make it easier to group activities into appropriate categories like: 

• Completed tasks 
• Customer interactions
• End-to-end project processes
• Specific departments or team projects 

Placing results into the correct categories will give you a chance to evaluate the effectiveness and productivity of teams and projects, allowing for better resource allocation and estimating project timelines. 

Create metrics for gauging efficiency and productivity

Data analysis provides the opportunity for more efficient workflows, giving your teams the resources they need to succeed. In order to do this effectively, you need the right type of insights. It’s a simple equation: good data in, good analysis out. 

With Harvest, you can collect the correct type of data and generate customizable reports, which puts your team in a better place to succeed. 

The power of quality data allows you to stay on budget and project timelines more accurately. Using time tracking software will help you create the proper metrics to gauge efficiency and productivity within your projects and with each team member. 

By obtaining these insights, you can create metrics to include duties performed, hours spent to accomplish certain tasks, and any associated costs from salaries or materials needed for project completion.

With this level of detail, staff performance can be accurately gauged, and making proactive choices about resource allocation and future hiring and training decisions easier.

Analyze reported data for insights and actionable intelligence

By collecting helpful data, including team performance, resources needed, and more, you can turn those insights into actionable intelligence that helps you identify if any processes can be improved.

This actionable intelligence will help inform strategic decisions about resource management, workforce optimization, or other investments needed ahead of time to ensure a competitive edge over rivals.

Create better reports to be shared among the team members

Once you compile the information and analyze it to determine your strategy moving forward, it’s important to share it with relevant teams. these assessments will help them understand their roles better. generating custom reports also highlight areas of improvement and provides transparent results across various key performance indicators (kpis)..

Time tracking software can collect, aggregate, and produce customized reports that identify KPIs for your teams and provide crucial insights to pivot in real-time decision making as needed. 

Automate your employee time management with intelligent reports 

Improving employee time management is essential to improve the efficiency of your team members and boost their productivity — without burning them out. To do this successfully, you need to understand how your team utilizes their time at work and determine if there are any areas for improvement. 

Whether it’s tracking hours, managing productivity, or generating reports, automated systems provide a solution that eliminates manual data entry and offers accurate and reliable records of your team’s performance.  

By automating your time tracking, you can quickly provide real-time reports on how effective and efficient team members are with their workday.

time tracking software like Harvest helps automate this process. With the tools, you can easily integrate the data into your accounting systems and generate labor reports to help keep employees accountable and on track. 

Maximizing efficiency with a time tracking solution like Harvest can be done in a few simple steps. 

1. Set up time tracking software

Setting up a time tracking system that captures employee hours and other related metrics is the first step in creating a more efficient workflow for your teams. Look for software with user-friendly interfaces that allow multiple users access so they can easily view activity logs and input timesheet data quickly and accurately.

Your time tracking software should easily produce customizable reports so your management team can make accurate decisions about utilizing resources to provide team members with the tools they need for success. 

2. Integrate time tracking data with accounting systems

The use of software for time tracking will allow you to integrate it with accounting systems automatically, making it easier to track costs associated with employees or contractors for payroll or invoicing purposes more accurately. 

This can significantly streamline the bill payment process and make it simpler to manage project budgets by recognizing revenue more quickly.

3. Generate smart reports automatically

Innovative reporting capabilities allow you to get the most out of your automatically tracked data by generating detailed reports containing critical insights into employee performance. 

Customizable reporting like those provided by Harvest will be able to compile meaningful reports from tens of thousands of entries, providing essential insights in seconds for executives who would otherwise take hours to analyze manually.

4. Optimize your workflow with automation

By automating employee time management within your organization, you can save valuable resources while increasing cost savings and improving overall efficiency throughout the workflow. 

Identifying inefficiencies within existing processes through automation helps you address them quickly and ensure your efforts towards optimizing workflow aren’t wasted due to inaccurate manual entries or inefficient practices.

Understanding your capacity is essential for maintaining a healthy workload and gauging the sustainability of your business. Time tracking apps can provide invaluable insight into how much time you or your team spend on tasks, allowing you to manage resources better and plan.

5. Keep employees accountable through automated tools

Automated tools also help keep employees accountable by ensuring everyone is accurately tracking their time against their tasks or projects, keeping everything clear and accurate in the final report results. Additionally, you can identify the resources needed to expedite the process by analyzing team workflow. For example, if specific tasks take longer than expected, you can provide additional support or training to help employees complete them faster.

When reviewing and analyzing team performance, you need to collect the right data to inform your decision-making. By looking at the numbers for individual employees and how they compare to the rest of the team, you’ll have a better sense of how everyone is doing. 

And for peer-to-peer analysis, this data can also be helpful for team members to see where they stand compared to their peers. It can also help identify areas of strength that should be highlighted and weaknesses that need improvement.

6. Improve productivity

Time tracking apps are a great way to improve productivity. They can provide an in-depth look into how your team spends their time, the tasks that take longer than expected, and the resources that were needed to accomplish the tasks, which will highlight any personal or operational inefficiencies. For example, if a task takes an hour but takes three, it’s easy to pinpoint where the problem lies.

For your team members, the knowledge that everything is being tracked can boost  productivity by 

Encouraging users to stay on task and avoid wasting time on unproductive activities.  

Helping them stay motivated and focused on their goals allows users to set realistic goals based on performance levels.

In addition, they can look for ways to streamline processes and ensure everyone works together efficiently. 

7. Retain top talent

Retaining top performers is essential for any business to succeed. Time tracking software can be a great tool to help with this, but only if you have the correct data to operate on. 

Time tracking software provides visual reports and calendars so staff members can look back on and verify work hours, helping ensure accuracy in payroll calculations and making it easier for managers to track employee performance over time. 

Another advantage is that accurate data highlighting top performers creates peace of mind for your top employees. With automated reports, they no longer have to worry about payroll being miscredited or underpaid for overtime work due to human error. 

Being recognized for outstanding performance enhances job satisfaction. Real-time reporting will also help highlight top performers for recognition, helping retain top talent. 

As a result, businesses can retain top performers while reducing new hire training fees, saving your business money in the long run. 

Data-driven decision-making is only as good as the data it’s based on. And that’s where utilizing an automated tool like time-tracking software is crucial. 

If you need better data to inform your decision-making, Harvest provides time-tracking software that is easy to set up and offers real-time customizable reporting. 

Make the right call. Get the data you need, generate the reports and analysis to boost productivity, and sign up for a free trial today.

Shelbie Watts

Shelbie is the Content Marketing Manager for Harvest. She works to provide relevant, informative, and engaging material to team leaders and hopes to make work easier one article at a time.

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Productivity

Productivity tips

Time Tracking Experiment: What I Learned After Analyzing Every Minute of My Life for 30 Days

"How we spend our days is of course how we spend our lives," wrote author Annie Dillard. "What we do with this hour and that one is what we are doing."

No matter what you think your priorities are, what you actually devote your time to is what you’re choosing to make a priority in your life. But how many people really know how they spend every minute or their days?

We actually have a lot of minutes every day—1,440 of them to be specific. Even accounting for a healthy eight hours of sleep, that’s nearly 1,000 minutes to fill with everything you want to do. And yet, I often get to the end of the day and feel like I didn’t have enough time for everything that mattered. Something must be taking more time than it deserves, and I wanted to figure out what so I could stop wasting time and make every day more meaningful.

So, I decided to track every moment of my time for a month and find out how my idea of how I spent my time matched up with reality. Here’s how I did it, what I learned, and why you might want to do it, too. (Spoiler alert: Like tracking your budget to manage your finances or your daily calorie intake to manage your diet, tracking your time can help you manage your most precious resource.)

Step 1: Choose Your Time Categories

Over the course of the month, I’d track over 43,000 minutes. I needed to come up with some general categories of where my time went in order to be able to label each time entry and make that data meaningful.

So, I thought about my life and the areas where I wanted to devote time to. After some brainstorming, I landed on the following eight categories:

Paid work (e.g., freelance clients)

Passion work (e.g., side projects)

Professional development (e.g., business development, networking, job applications)

Personal development (e.g., journaling, classes or workshops, inspiring reading)

Relationships (e.g., spending time with family, phone calls with friends, dates)

Play (e.g., shopping, TV, casual reading, going out)

Wellness (e.g., working out, taking necessary breaks, self care)

Support work (e.g., volunteering, mentoring)

I also had to get real and create a couple categories for areas I knew some of my time went to, even if I wasn’t thrilled about that fact. These included:

Distractions (e.g., flipping through social media mindlessly, taking extra time to get out of bed in the morning)

Maintenance (e.g., running errands, getting ready, doing chores)

While I tracked sleep to make sure I accurately kept up with 24 hours in a day, I didn't include it in my analysis because I know it accounts for about a third of my time and don’t want to change that. If cutting back on sleep to make room for other things interests you, it might be worth tracking here, too. I decided to focus just on how I spend my waking hours.

Most of these categories probably apply to everyone, but yours may be a little different. Do your best to come up with areas you think your time goes to—or want it to go to, even if you’re not actually focusing on them that right now. Try to keep it to around 10 categories so you don’t get overwhelmed with options.

Step 2: Determine Your Ideal Allocation of Time

While I wanted to do my best to not judge how I was spending my time during the experiment—to just track it as it is and analyze at the end—I did want to have a baseline to compare my results to. This wasn't a hypothesis of how I spend my time, but more of a vision for how I would like my time to be allocated.

When doing this exercise, think about how many hours in a week you want to spend doing something and figure out a percentage from there. The reason a week might be more meaningful than a day is that things can differ a lot day to day—weekends are different from weekday, for example—but are usually pretty normalized week over week.

Editor's note: You can apply this strategy to get a clearer breakdown of where your time goes at work, too. Just adjust the categories to break the workday into types of tasks.

Step 3: Set Up Your Tools

Next, you’ll need to set up the tools you use to track your time. I decided to use time tracking app Toggl because I already use it for tracking work. Plus, they have an iPhone app so I could track every minute on the go (as well as an Android app along with Chrome and Firefox extensions). I created a project for each of my time categories so I could easily label each activity.

There are lots of other ways you could do this as well. If you’re used to another time tracking software, use that. You could add your time tracking to Google Calendar as events throughout the day, and use app automation tool Zapier to save those events to a Google Sheets spreadsheet that you can analyze later. You could have RescueTime automatically track your time in apps and on websites and, if you opt for the premium plan, track offline activities and keep a daily log of your accomplishments.

Here are a few ways you can automate the time tracking with popular apps:

Create a RescueTime highlight when a Trello card is moved

Get daily RescueTime summary reports via Gmail

Create detailed Google Calendar events for new Toggl Track time entries

Create Google Sheets rows for every new time entry in Toggl Track

Need a new time tracking app? Check our list of the best time tracking apps to compare their features and find the best one for you.

Step 4: Start Tracking!

Now it’s time to get going! Pick a morning to start as soon as you wake up, put a reminder on your calendar to stop tracking time 4 weeks from that day, and start recording your time.

The first thing I noticed when I started tracking was a lot of resistance. It’s so hard to remember to do this, it takes more time to track everything than it’s worth, I thought. Spoiler alert: I’m glad I pushed through this initial resistance and tracked the whole time as I learned some interesting things.

That said, it was very easy to forget I was supposed to be tracking my time, especially in the first week or so of doing it. After a day or so of continuously forgetting, I set periodic reminders on my phone to notify me throughout the day. I also decided I would check in at the end of every day to make sure I had accounted for my whole day.

The other thing I immediately noticed was how hard it is to categorize certain swaths of time.

Sometimes it was because I felt like I was doing multiple things in one activity. Take cooking: Cooking seems like a maintenance activity, but it’s also something I enjoy doing, so I could see it as wellness at the end of a long day and, if I’m cooking with someone else, that could also be considered nurturing for my relationships.

Other times, it was because I couldn’t really put my finger on what I was doing. The internet was partially at fault for this—I noticed how often I spent time puttering on the internet, kind of doing work, kind of touching base with friends or acquaintances, kind of being distracted by cat videos.

Here are a few things that helped me categorize my time in a meaningful way:

Be as Specific as Possible: Remember, we’re here to track every minute as accurately as possible. So, if you spend two minutes making a snack, and then a minute texting your friend, and then 10 minutes getting ready for your day, categorize each of those actions as such. Studies show that our brains can’t actually multitask —when we think we're multitasking, we're really just very quickly shifting attention between multiple things. So, try and account for that in your tracking. It can feel like a waste to record just a minute or two of an activity, but over the course of a week or a month, a minute or two here and there can really add up.

Label Your Time While Categorizing It: A label might be a detailed description of what you were actually doing during that time—for example "watching TV" or "answering emails"—while the category such as "play" or "work" is the broader umbrella. Using both is helpful for a few reasons. First, if you ever forgot to categorize something, it makes it easier to go back later and put them in the correct categories. Second, when analyzing results, you'll be able to in your biggest time sucks in the categories where you're spending too much time.

At the Very Least, Track Now and Categorize Later: Toggl lets you track time even if you don’t have a label or category for it yet, so if you finish a task but aren’t sure what you’re doing next, just start the timer and when you come back to stop it and switch to the next task, you can fill in the category and label.

Decide Where Lost Time Goes: At the end of every day, I checked in to make sure I had accounted for all my time. Most nights, I noticed somewhere between 10 and 30 minutes of what I call "lost time"—time I forgot to track but the activity wasn’t memorable enough to prompt me to track it. It’s likely you’ll have this too, so decide where you want this time to go based on where you usually "lose" time. I decided to shuffle all this into maintenance since I think this was usually spent flitting around the house tidying up or getting ready. Maybe you know you lose a lot to social media and decide to put it in "distracting" or somewhere else instead.

Step 5: Analyze the Results

Once you've finished your four weeks, it’s time to analyze the results. No matter how you decided to track, I’d recommend tallying up the total hours in each category, and putting them into an Excel or Google Sheets spreadsheet to easily make percentage graphs.

When all was said and done, here’s where my month of time went:

As a reminder, here was my ideal:

A couple of things immediately stood out—the amount of time I spend on "play" and "maintenance" is grossly over my ideals, causing me to lose time in important areas like work, development, relationships, and wellness.

When I dug into those categories more, I could better understand where that time was going—and make decisions for how I wanted to change that. Looking at my "play" category, I could see that watching TV took up an amount of time I was hugely uncomfortable with—about a full work week of time in a month! In my defense, I made the mistake of getting on the Twin Peaks train during this exercise, but seeing that made me confront the realities of binging shows and whether that’s really how I wanted to spend my time. While I agree that TV can be a wonderful way to wind down at the end of the day, it made me think of other ways I may want to spend my time and how I can better balance that habit with other things.

Within maintenance, I could see a lot of my time went to driving—more than I had anticipated. I knew I could make that time more meaningful for myself by lining up interesting podcasts that contribute to my personal or professional development.

Obviously, your priorities and numbers are probably going to look very different than mine, but go through this exercise of being really honest with yourself as you look at your results. Where are you not happy to know you’re spending so much time—or not enough? What are the things that seem to be time sucks, and how might you be able to reduce the time spent on those to open up space for other things?

I was also surprised to realize how simply doing this activity had effected some of my bad time habits. During the 4 weeks, I slowly found myself:

Being more conscious of time: Simply the act of tracking was making me more aware of how I was spending my time—and more likely to stop spending it in ways I didn’t want. Having to start a timer on my morning Instagram browse wasn’t enough to make me want to stop entirely, but was enough to make me want to get off there quickly so I could stop the clock.

Limiting multitasking: It also made me more likely to monotask. Since it's challenging to track if you’re often switching between different tasks, I found myself more often sticking with one task until it was done, and then moving onto the next.

Finally, doing this experiment made me appreciate how much time there really is in a day. After taking a cold, hard look at all the things I was able to do in the course of a day, a week, a month—and the ways I felt I wasted time—it’s harder for me now to think "I don’t have time for that." It’s clear to me now that, I do have the time, I just have to be mindful about how I prioritize it.

Tracking your time is not meant to make you feel bad or guilt you into changing your habits. It simply gives you the power of information. You may look at the data and want to change nothing—or it may make you want to change everything—but at least you’ll feel confident that you know where the precious minutes of your life are going.

More Time Management Tips:

9 time management tips to get more done at work

How to Use RescueTime to Get Magnitudes More Done Each Week

The Best Ways to Protect Your Time

How to Fix Your Broken Perception of Time

Title photo by Freepik

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Erin Greenawald

Erin Greenawald is a freelance writer, editor and content maker who helped build The Muse's editorial arm. If you’re an individual or company looking for help making your content better—or just want to go out to tea—get in touch at eringreenawald.com

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An Informative Time Management Essay on the Importance of Timesheets

In the business world, we understand how important it is to save not only time, but money as well. No business owner wants to spend more on something than they have to, and if there is a way of saving money, they should be all over it. As a business owner, one of your primary objectives is obviously to make as much money as possible, but there are other factors to consider. Your employees for example, form the backbone of your business, and if they aren’t pulling their weight, you aren’t going to make any real progress at all. On the flipside, if your employees are happy, productive, punctual, and pulling their weight, you stand to become very successful. When it comes to employee productivity, more and more business owners are utilizing timesheets and time tracking software. This is why today, we are going to be taking a look at an informative time management essay based on the importance of timesheets. Here’s a look at several reasons why timesheets are so beneficial in a workplace environment.  

The importance of timesheets – Provides a sense of achievement

A key reason to implement timesheets in the form of time tracking software in the workplace, is because of the fact that doing so will provide your employees with a sense of achievement. When we work on something, it doesn’t matter what it is we’re focussing on, once we have completed it to a satisfactory standard we can’t help but feel a sense of pride and achievement in what we’ve achieved. Time tracking software is ideal for this very reason. You see, not only does the software provide a detailed analysis of the hours each employee has worked, it also shows what they have worked on, which projects have been completed, and how tasks are progressing. Say for example, you start working on a project in the morning that is only partial complete, yet when you clock off for the day, it’s say, almost complete. This shows how hard you’ve worked on the project and how you’ve progressed. You can also see how far you have progressed with previous tasks as well. Seeing how hard you’ve worked and how much you have accomplished will provide you with a wonderful sense of achievement which will only serve to motivate you further.

The software does the hard work for you

Whether you handle your employees’ attendance records or another member of staff, somebody in your company will be in charge of chasing up employees regarding their timesheets and/or attendance records.

Say for example that you miss reporting 10 minutes on a project here and there, every week or day. Chasing this up can be fairly time-consuming and can seem pretty petty. After all, it’s only a few minutes, so who cares, right? Well, those minutes quickly add up, and then you’ll have a wrong image of how things are progressing and how much time you’ve spent on each project. If you’re also billing for your time, this can be rather costly. With time tracking software, one key advantage is the fact that the software does the hard work for you. You can access employee’s timesheets in a matter of seconds, with a few clicks of a button and quickly get an overview of time spent. Not only that, but the software can be programmed to send reminders to members of staff, rather than you, or your team leader, having to manually do it instead. This not only helps ease your workload or the workload of your managers or team leaders, but it also helps save time.  

A time management essay – Save money and reduce costs

As we’re looking at a time management essay on the importance of timesheets, we’ll now focus on how timesheets and time tracking software in general, can help save your business money and bring costs down. You see, all businesses, even very small businesses, will incur business expenses and running costs. These can range from heating and internet usage, to the purchasing of paper for the printer. Now, the bigger your business, the higher your costs and expenses are likely to be. What’s especially frustrating however, is the fact that many of these expenses and costs can actually be reduced, or avoided completely. Say for example, you have been paying two employees to work overtime to ensure a project deadline is met, yet really only one employee is needed, the timesheet software will help make this info clear. You will be able to monitor the status and progress of a project and will instantly be able to see that only one employee is needed as things are way ahead of schedule. By simply taking one employee off of the task you’re no longer paying out two lots of overtime, meaning you’re saving money already. If you have several employees working on a project and can see that they are way, way ahead of schedule, you can again pull some off of the project in question, rather than unnecessarily paying them to work on a task that doesn’t require that level of manpower. Timesheets help identify where costs can be reduced, helping your business to save money and bring costs down.  

Increased opportunities

As a business owner, there is nothing more frustrating than having to turn away work. No company likes turning down work but sometimes, due to hectic work schedules and/or manpower issues, they are left with no alternative. As we’ve mentioned numerous times in this time management essay, time tracking software is ideal when it comes to improving employee productivity and business efficiency. When you and your employees are on top of your time and are working on schedule, or better still, ahead of schedule, this will then allow you to benefit from more opportunities. The software provides a brief overview of your company workload and allows you to see how far you’ve come with each task. If for example, you can see that you have several large projects days, even hours, from completion, this indicates that your workload will soon be eased and that you’ll be able to take on new projects. Rather than having to turn down work from enquiring clients, you can simply explain that you should be free to take on new work in a day or so, and that you’re very much looking forward to working with them and forging new partnerships or working relationships. The more organized your company is, the more opportunities you will be offered. The business benefits here are obvious right from the outset.  

Professional reputation

Another reason why more and more business owners are using daily timesheets and time tracking software in general, is to help build the image and reputation of the company. Say for example, you are short-staffed and have been advertising for new members of staff for quite some time but haven’t had much luck, utilizing daily timesheets could actually help you. You see, if you are utilizing a streamlined interface to help organize sick days and vacation time, it shows potential job candidates, and customers too for that matter, that you are a professional outfit that has utilized modern technology to your advantage. You see, employees and management alike will spend less time actually tracking time because the software does it all for them. This then frees up their schedule so that they have more time to focus on other things.  

Less paper!

One of the main expenses that businesses incur, no matter what it is that they deal in, is paper. Paper is literally everywhere in many offices and not only does this cost a fair amount each month, it can also make the place look cluttered and untidy. One reason why so many offices struggle to find space in their filing cabinets is because of the fact that they utilize paper timesheets. Paper timesheets are outdated, they’re messy, they’re easy to lose, and they quickly build up. But where will your timesheets be kept if not in an overcrowded filing cabinet that looks fit to burst at any moment? Why, in the cloud, that’s where. When discussing the importance of timesheets, we can’t overlook the fact that time tracking software allows you to store several years’ worth of timesheet data, in the virtual cloud. So, if you wish to access the file of an employee and find out how many days they had off two years ago, rather than having to go digging through mountains of paperwork, you simply log onto the system, and find the data you were looking for in a matter of seconds.  

So, that brings our time management essay on the importance of timesheets to a close. If you do own your own business or are a manager and are looking to make changes to not only save you money, but to also save time in the process, time tracking software could be the solution you’ve been searching for.  

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Employee time tracking software

Clockify is the most popular free time tracking software that lets your employees track time they spend working on projects and tasks.

What is Clockify? (8:26)

Work time tracker — Clockify

Clockify is a time tracking tool that helps you categorize and track your progress during a work day.

You'll know exactly how much time you've spent on a certain task, how many seconds you've been unproductive, and you'll get a complete report that can help you improve in the future.

Also, basic Clockify features are absolutely free!

Employee tracking app — features

Clockify offers many basic and advanced features that can revolutionize the way you handle your everyday tasks — here are some of them.

Clockify's operational premise is simple — input your current activity, select the type of project you're working on, and start the timer. The app will keep track of your progress in the background, even if you've closed the tab.

Then, stop the timer when you're finished with the current activity and start a new one. You can always come back to previous activities and restart the timers if you have more work to do.

Clockify grants you access to a neatly organized timesheet from where you can log in your weekly hours. You can also create templates for specific tasks and time entries, so you don't have to type in the same thing each time.

Review and edit personal entries

This employee hour tracker software lets you manually edit each time entry. You can:

• Rename your tasks
• Switch between projects
• Input different start/end times
• Mark entries as billable/non-billable

Personal time dashboard

Every employee in Clockify's workspace can analyze their hours and see where they can improve. You'll have access to a work time tracker that measures individual and group activity throughout the week and how many hours each member logged in.

Track time from anywhere

Start tracking time in your browser, stop the timer on your phone - all your time entries are synced between the phone apps, desktop apps, and the website.

• Available for web, desktop, and mobile Time tracking is more convenient using a dedicated app
• Idle time detection (Mac) Clockify can detect when you're away from computer and lets you decide what to do with that inactive time
• Targets and reminders Reminds users to track time if they haven't logged enough hours

See how time tracking works

Time tracking software for project managers.

Clockify can serve as a valuable tool for project managers — it lets them track their employees' activity and gives them insight into work time gaps. With work time tracker data, managers can find ways to improve and implement new business strategies.

Clockify features for managers

Here's what managers can do to improve their businesses and increase their firm's productivity levels with Clockify:

Create reports

• Summary report Break down work hours by date and project
• Weekly report See who worked overtime and when
• Export Save all to Excel and analyze further
• Share reports Give view-only links to other managers or clients

Manage projects

• Projects and tasks Your employees can track time for them
• Estimate work Later analyze budgeted vs tracked time
• Project managers Let team leaders update their own projects

Manage employees

• Free - unlimited users and features
• User Groups - assign multiple team members to a project at once
• Lock timesheets - entries can't be edited past a certain date
• Time audit - edit employees' time entries to clean up reports

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Start tracking time with Clockify

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Free Forever

.css-78cmd9-Rotalic{color:#E57CD8;font-family:'GT Haptik Medium Rotalic',sans-serif;} Frictionless time tracking software for teams

Give your team a time tracker they’ll love, and help your managers make profitable project decisions with meaningful time data insights.

.css-1c0gnig-Rotalic{font-family:'GT Haptik Medium Rotalic',sans-serif;} Flexible time tracking tool for your business needs

Insightful time reporting software.

Know exactly how much time your team spends on tasks

Say goodbye to inaccurate weekly timesheets and get a handle on your team's exact billable and non-billable hours.

“ Time management software that helps improve metrics and estimates ”

Marie, Project Coordinator

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An opportunity to convert time tracked into actionable insights that boost productivity, increase efficiency and balance team workloads. So you can drive profitability and growth while prioritising your team's trust and well-being .

Companies that use Toggl Track see:

40 + hours saved monthly

at Perception Engineering with one-click time tracking and reporting

100 % time tracking adoption

with easy, non-intrusive time reporting at software consultancy Newlogic

20 % increase in profitability

by accurately tracking billable work hours at Sweat+Co PR agency

Want better insights on how your team is spending their time?

The non-intrusive time tracker for self-driven teams, enterprise teams.

Get frictionless time reporting for employees and customizable time insights for managers.

Optimize your team's workload

Small businesses

Track employee time and efficiency to make the most of your limited resources and workforce.

Make every minute count.

Consultants

Get accurate time tracking with invoicing and project management.

Boost efficiency and billable hours

Software teams

Integrate with your favorite PM tool to stay on top of project progress.

Deliver projects on time and budget

Creative agencies

Track project time accurately to deliver profitably and identify the most lucrative clients.

Maximize your agency's earnings

Attorneys & lawyers

Get precise time tracking with simple invoicing to streamline your legal operations.

Ensure transparent client billing

Onboarding a large team? We’d love to show you around.

Teams of 15+ are eligible for a custom demo to see how Toggl Track works at scale.

Time tracking apps for all devices and platforms

GDPR-compliant. Your data is safe with us.

Top-rated customer support with 3-hour response time

99% uptime for your peace of mind

Why .css-7zo5gu-CircleSketch{position:relative;display:inline-block;background:url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMjAwIiBoZWlnaHQ9IjU1IiB2aWV3Qm94PSIwIDAgMjAwIDU1IiBmaWxsPSJub25lIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPgo8cGF0aCBkPSJNNzIuNDUyNCA5LjI2ODQ3QzQ0LjA3IDExLjYyNTcgLTkuMDYxODQgMTkuOTc3MiA1LjQ2OTk0IDM0LjUyNUMyMy42MzQ3IDUyLjcwOTcgMTU0LjY4NSA1OC44MTIxIDE4NS45ODIgNDIuNjA3M0MyMTcuMjAzIDI2LjQ0MjIgMTg1LjQxNSAtMS44NDQ0MSA0Ny40NzYxIDMuNzEyMDMiIHN0cm9rZT0iI0VGQjBFOCIgc3Ryb2tlLXdpZHRoPSI1IiBzdHJva2UtbGluZWNhcD0icm91bmQiIHN0cm9rZS1saW5lam9pbj0icm91bmQiLz4KPC9zdmc+Cg==) no-repeat 5% 120%/contain;} 120,000+ users started tracking time with Toggl Track in the last 30 days

Easy for both team members and managers

So nobody views time tracking or reporting as a dreaded chore.

“ Versatile and easy even if you’ve never used time tracking software before ”

Kathleen, Service Area Manager

Better than the best

“ Chose Toggl Track after trialing 20+ similar time tracking tools ”

Andy, Software Consultant

Top-rated support

With a dedicated customer success manager for enterprise teams.

“ Regular updates ensure that any bugs are caught quickly and customer support responds within a day; these features make using Toggl Track a breeze. ”

Trevor, Senior Project Leader

Get your team going, faster

Low learning curve with no training necessary.

“ No complicated setup or unnecessary bells & whistles! ”

Renee, Senior HR Coordinator

Track time anywhere

From web to integrations to mobile, there’s a time tracking app for everyone!

“ Easy to use time tracking app for desktop and mobile ”

Rachel, Small business

Small team and no budget? We have you covered

“The best free time tracking app”

Learning to use Toggl is a breeze, because it's highly intuitive and simple. It ushers you along quickly so that you get back to work right away and start tracking your time immediately. The free plan is generous and could be more than adequate for solo workers or even small groups of up to five people with light needs.

It's not one of those apps where you need to spend half a day figuring out how to actually use it: sessions can be started as they happen or added later, and once the app has got a feel for your schedule and how you work, it'll even make suggestions about what you want to track next.

With Toggl Track, you can track your time right away and view your tracked time entries, and worry about the details later. It also has a generous free tier of service that gives you access to all its apps (Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, Web, and browser extensions).

Discover how time tracking can help you build a better business with higher profits and happy teams

Toggl Track's Free plan is free forever. Our Premium plan comes with a free, 30-day trial. No credit card required to get started.

Boost Your Profits with Seamless Time Tracking

Take control of your billable and non-billable hours, monitor employee productivity, and track time spent on each task.

14 days trial. No credit card.

Join thousands of companies that grow with Time Analytics

Increased profitability up to 20%

We see exactly how much we make with every project and client. This allows us to redefine contract terms with our low-performing patrons and invest more in our top-performing clients. We identified missed billable hours and bill more simply, with the same capacity.

Zeljko Turudic, Partner at WTS Tax and Finance

Cut admin work by 25%.

Before TA we spent too many hours on administration and unproductive work. Based on the hours we cut out of admin and micro-management, we’ve been able to invest saved hours into team and business development. We also get insights into what we can outsource.

Aleksandra Lazović-Lønningen, Co-Founder at Eat Me App

True business insights.

I got clear insights into the entire company’s performance. I can see all the important metrics with a single click, like billable hours, rates, time utilization, overtime, and time-off. That allows me to make  informed and simple decisions when it comes to my partners and employees.

Andrej Kravcuk, Founder and CEO at Meat your farmer

Spend less time tracking employee hours and more time growing your company.

Keep Track of Hours and Costs

Easy-to-use time tracker that helps your team to increase productivity:

• Track time across projects with one click
• Efficiently manage all time entries
• Set billing and pay rates for  your team
• Automate cost allocation

Analyze Project Profitability

Reporting features can help you to:

• Track billable hours and billing efficiency
• Get insights into the profitability of each project and client
• Identify missing profits
• Eliminate micro-management and admin time
• Fairly adjust client fees and contractual terms

Improve Your Team Performance

Maximize employee productive hours:

• Manage billable and non-billable work
• Review employee time utilization
• Track overtime and unused time
• Eliminate unproductive behavior
• Improve usage of team resources

Get Insights from Employee Timesheets

Generate timesheets automatically and completely replace spreadsheets:

• Review employee hours by date, billability, client or project
• Review and edit your team’s timesheets
• Get accurate hours for payroll
• Set notifications for missing hours

Increase client satisfaction

Stop missing billable minutes when invoicing

• Keep proof of performed work
• Make transparent invoices and appendices
• Easily export invoices and invoicing data

A flexible time management tool for all kinds of businesses

Join thousands of people who trust us and let us to help them turn their vision into reality.

Andrej Kravcuk , Founder and CEO at Meat your farmer

Aleksandra Lazović-Lønningen , Co-Founder at Eat Me App

Ana Avramovic ,Senior Consultant at WTS.

Michael Morbius , Project Lead at Treehouse.

Ready to make the most of your firm’s time?