There is always a lot to keep track of for a project manager. Whether a given project is large or small, there will inevitably be times where keeping track of the myriad of moving pieces will become an overwhelming prospect. Being able to stay organised and keep on top of work in process, project budgets/targets, and task delegation is vital for any project manager wanting to achieve a successful result. The right project management and time tracking software solution can be a lifesaver in those moments, allowing managers to keep organized and stay aware of the greater picture while still being able to handle the small details.
Why Use Time Tracking Software in Project Management?
It’s important to have a full understanding of the potential benefits and uses of a project time management software solution, as this will let you find the option which provides the best fit for your particular management needs – you want a solution which is able to cater to your needs while not going over the top with unnecessary features that could clutter and impede your workflow. Your best fit might allow your team to track time on individual tasks, while making it easier for you and your team to add jobs, and analyse/report on work in progress and completed. Time tracking reporting tools can be a powerful way for project managers to gauge the productivity and efficiency of their team at any given stage of a project.
How Does Time Tracking in Project Management Work?
Organization is key to project management, and time tracking is the key to organization. Time tracking lets you keep a detailed record of work done, organized according to specific categories, like the tasks being completed, the worker doing the job, the project the job relates to, and more. Organized timekeeping data is critical for improving time management – the data you recorded for past projects allows you to understand the time and work requirements for future projects, letting you improve the accuracy of your estimates and make informed management decisions. Effective teamwork time tracking really can make or break the work you do on a project.
Add Time Estimates
Your work time, and the work hours of your team, are limited resources. The way you manage that resource can have a huge impact on the success of your project. Using workday time tracking is a good start, but it’s also important to be able to set estimates, targets, and budgets for the workhours you have available. Delegating clear and specific tasks to team members along with a target of work hours in which to complete those tasks will aid in the efficiency and productivity of your team, while being able to have a clear overview of team member workloads will prevent you from loading specific teammates with too little or too much to do. For example, we at MinuteDock offer time budgeting/targets features which can show your workers a visual progress bar as they work towards their targeted hours against a given job. With your team keeping accurate track of the work they are completing; your project management will feel much more manageable!
Tracking Abilities
Time tracking is about more than just recording a number of hours and a date worked. The best time tracking software for project managers will provide you with a myriad of tools to keep you aware of the specifics of the work being done, letting you manage the overall project while getting all the detail you need about the nitty gritty of individual jobs and tasks. Solutions like MinuteDock offer the ability to create categorization labels like task or project labels which can be applied to work entries and provide team managers with powerful tools to keep abreast of exactly how progress is going in the different areas of a given project.
Time Tracking Report
One of the most important features of time tracking software is the ability to generate reports from time tracking data and provide detailed insight into the time management and work process of a project. Systems like MinuteDock will collate your timekeeping records and use their tracking categories to organise and present your time tracking data in an easily readable format to give you immediate access to powerful management insights. Once you find a solution with a comprehensive time tracking report feature, you’ll quickly start to wonder how you ever lived without it.
Multi-Device Time Tracking
A stark reality of project management is that you’ll often find yourself visiting and working from different locations depending on the needs of your current project. This is where the benefits of an online time tracking web service can become essential in particular for project managers. The ability to access your time tracking system and reporting data from any device or location so long as you have an internet connection can allow you to track time on the job no matter where you are working from on a given day. The convenience of a mobile app for making a quick record of travel times or meeting notes also can’t be understated.
What Measures Should Project Managers Follow?
If you are thinking of implementing a new time tracking process and system for your team, there are a few things you’ll want to consider. First, you want to make sure you are finding a solution which is the right fit for your team. There are innumerable ways of going about time tracking, and plenty of different solutions to cater to different businesses. Consider what you want to achieve by using time tracking, and take your time to shop around and work out what might be the best long term fit for you. Once you do have a solution, be sure you are making the most of it! Get your team onboard with the idea and well trained in how the solution works. Be sure to have clear time tracking processes and guidelines in place for your workflow, so that everyone on the team is recording their time in a way which will let you quickly access and understand that data. Ultimately, get yourself into a position where tracking time is easy, quick, and making your work easier rather than harder!