A low grumble moves throughout the building... My group email has just gone out out to remind everyone to make sure all their time has been entered for the month.
It’s understandable, since it makes some people feel micromanaged while others believe minutiae, like recording time, takes valuable time away from their “actual job”. Furthermore, if you haven’t kept a running tally, trying to remember what you’ve worked on and for how long can take as much time as the actual projects; not to mention that your time entry is probably inaccurate!
But why is it so important to keep track of our time?
Accurate time entry gives your agency tools to help drive its success:
- Illustrates the resources it takes to complete a project so you can accurately estimate future projects. (You can also determine if you have the bandwidth to take on new clients by reconciling their needs against your capabilities.)
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Demonstrates where your agency is over servicing so you can make the necessary adjustments. (When you are over servicing a client you are sacrificing time that could be utilized in working on other projects or on new clients.)
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Helps the agency to recognize when it’s time to hire new employees.
How often should time entry occur?
Ideally, time is entered on a daily basis at the end of the day. This may not be an easy goal to maintain, but...
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Your work is fresh on your mind, so you’re less likely to make mistakes.
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If you wait to enter time once a week you are likely to ruin the budget management of a project. A review on one day can show a project on track and suddenly, days later, the project is seriously over budget!
When you have a clear and accurate picture of the time spent on projects from brief to campaign creation and production, the agency can effectively distribute the workload, accurately bill for your services, and forecast for growth.
How does your company encourage systematic and accurate time entry? Do you think it is necessary and beneficial or obsolete? Do you have any alternative solutions to managing time efficiently? Start a conversation and leave a comment below.