To run a business well, every aspect has to be taken into consideration — including knowing how much time has been spent on a particular task.
You have probably heard of time tracking in project management. If you are unsure why it matters, here is its importance in detail.
What is time tracking in project management?
Time tracking in project management is the process of recording the amount of time team members spend on a particular piece of work.
It is useful for measuring the productivity of individual staff, and it feeds the forward-looking metrics that projects depend on — project estimates, agile velocity, estimated sprint length and so on.
It is also what makes it possible to prepare invoices for clients billed by the hour — see time tracking and project management.
Speeds up team productivity
When team members know their activity is being taken into account, they tend to get on with the task and complete it sooner. That has a direct positive effect on completion, and it means more work gets finished.
Identifies all the activities
Time tracking also reveals the activities that are not worth doing.
It happens that people invest a lot of time in things that did not need a single minute, and end up unproductive across the day without anyone realising. Tracking is what surfaces that, so it can be avoided.
No gaps in the record for each person
Sometimes individuals are not working effectively, and the incomplete task turns into people blaming each other.
With transparency about how much time each person has spent on the project, that problem goes away. Everyone can see how much time they devoted to a project, and what that is worth.
Improved coordination
When time is tracked on a project, the project manager can divide the task up properly. A task that is clearly divided produces no miscommunication, and the team coordinates successfully — nobody has to go around asking colleagues what they are working on.
In short
Time tracking in project management matters, and it matters even more for generating invoices correctly.
If your work is billed by project, tracking the hours is what turns effort into an invoice without reconstruction. It also lets every team member keep track of what they are doing, and lets you check the record — see how the timesheet works.