How to Make Time Management Effective With Time Tracking and Scheduling

Time Management is one of the most important skills required to effectively balance your personal and professional life and one of the most critical steps toward success in any industry.

Humans, by our very nature, are very impatient and always curious to know how to get as much done as possible in a limited time.

Every person has a very limited amount of time – 168 hrs per week. And most of the time we don’t realize where and how we have utilized our time.

Over the last 50 years or so, since the revolution in computers and scientific research, many studies have been carried out to understand and solve time complexity.

The most common understanding of Time Management is “Putting first things first”. People who practice this are perceived as practicing effectiveness first than efficiency, importance over urgency, and relationships before schedules.

But achieving this stage requires years of practice. In general, we are drawn towards any new solutions (applications) that help us manage our time to some extent and then we ignore them.

So the question remains, how can you manage your time successfully for a longer period, without being distracted?

After years of research and study, it is found that scheduling and tracking are the two important pieces of the puzzle revolving around time complexity.

It is baffling to know that only 19% of project team members use time tracking.

Most of us use multiple tools in your workplace which are focused to perform a certain job or have everything you need but with limited functionalities.

What if you have a single solution that integrates with your existing workflow and enables you to get more done with the very limited time you have?

With Orangescrum Project Management and Collaboration tool, we have introduced Daily and Weekly Timesheets that allow you to prioritize your tasks with details about your daily and weekly activities and generate a smart to-do list that helps you stay on track.

The main benefits of Orangescrum Timesheet are to:

1. Reconnect with your weekly mission and goals
2. Schedule your big rocks in advance
3. Eliminate less important tasks by reviewing your schedule
4. Improve risk management by allowing you time to fix issues around scheduled big rocks

Developing a plan is the first step toward time management. Daily Timesheet allows you to plan for a short-term and Weekly Timesheets enables you to plan for a longer period.

But to have a successful plan, you need to divide your most complex goals into small actionable tasks.

(Source: financesonline.com)

Top Time Tracking Stats and Trends

1. According to a survey done by Wellington nearly 90% of organizations use some form of time tracking for project management.
2. Nearly 73% of organizations use manual time-tracking methods whereas 27% of organizations use automated time-tracking tools.
3. According to a study done by Atlassian nearly 78% of project managers track time to monitor and improve team productivity.
4. According to a survey done by Capterra nearly 90% of businesses track time for billing purposes.
5. A survey done by Mavenlink suggested that around 68% of organizations track time to manage project budgets and control costs.
6. A survey done by LiquidPlanner suggested that 80% of project managers track time to analyze project performance and make data-driven decisions.

When large components of a goal are broken down into actionable small tasks, they look very simple as a to-do list.

However, not all items on your to-do list will seem to get completed on schedule. That’s why it is most important to assign priorities to your tasks.

Sometimes you find tasks that are not urgent but have a higher importance level than your most urgent tasks. How will you schedule these tasks without having to disturb your workflow?

The simple solution to this is in understanding the relationship between the task and your goal.

For tasks that have higher importance and where other tasks are dependent on any particular task, you assign them higher urgency and move them up on your schedule. Review your list several times a week and rearrange your schedule.

When you have your plans and list of actions compiled in one user-friendly and interactive place, it gets simpler for you to visualize your day, week, or month at a glance and helps you maintain a balance between your professional and personal life.

Scheduling is one part of the enigma… Only scheduling your tasks in advance will not solve your problem. What you really need is a smart solution to schedule and track your time spent on each of the tasks on your to-do list.

Top Reasons to Use Project Time Tracking

Projects are typically broken down into smaller tasks that need to be completed to achieve project goals.

Time tracking enables teams to understand how long each task will take to complete which in turn enables team members and project leaders to estimate future projects more accurately.

Increased Productivity

By keeping track of the time you spend on each task you get a more valuable insight into how much work you are accomplishing each day which can then be extended to determine the amount of work you accomplish in a week, month, or in the complete project lifecycle.

The information derived from time tracking can help you identify patterns and optimize your work schedules for increased productivity.

Increase Flexibility

One of the primary benefits that is evident with time tracking is the added flexibility team members get.

Because team members have a complete view of how much task they have at hand and how much time it will take to complete they can adjust the timeline accordingly.

This flexibility in project completion helps deliver projects faster as well as helps in budgeting the project.

Effective Resource Allocation

Knowing how long a task will take to complete is an important piece of information for project managers to enable better resource utilization. This information can be used to adjust schedules and deadlines, assign tasks efficiently, and make better use of staff time.

Improved Accountability

As all the team members are measured in terms of the time they spend on each task, it becomes easier for project managers to determine who is accountable for which task. This becomes extremely essential for those working with remote team members.

Reduced Cost

Time tracking can enable businesses to reduce their time wasted on projects thereby improving efficiency and reducing costs.

Time tracking can enable businesses to measure the ROI or return on investment of each individual project thereby enabling project members to determine future investments and identify which projects are more profitable.

How to Track Time Effectively

Using Time Tracking Tool: Probably the most efficient way to track time is to use a time tracking tool. It will enable you to keep all your data in one place and generate reports automatically.

Maintain Timesheet: If you are not using any time tracking tool you can maintain a timesheet. You can maintain a timesheet using tools like Google Sheets and MS Excel where you can write down the start and end time of each task each day to keep track of time spent on each task.

Using a Timer: If you find writing down your daily activities on digital media like Google Sheets and MS Excel cumbersome then you can track time on a piece of paper by using a physical timer or an online timer.

Timers are a great way to stay focused on the task at hand which can be helpful in measuring how long tasks will take to complete.

Making Time Tracking a Habit: The best way to ensure that you keep track of time is by making time tracking a habit.

You can use smart tools such as mobile apps and wearable devices to start your day by tracking each activity and then extend that habit to working on projects.

Top Time Tracking Features You Need to Look For in a Project Management Software

• Time tracker: A comprehensive time tracking feature to categorize data into multiple categories. Access different user data and compare them to highlight individual contributions as well as measure team collaboration.
• Attendance tracking: Maintain each employee’s attendance and reporting hours to keep track of remote teamwork time. It also enables organizations to facilitate different work shifts for the staff.
• Maintain timesheets: Enable teams to maintain a timesheet of the billable tracked time by the employees. The timesheets can also help organizations manage employee attendance, leaves, breaks, and holidays.
• Billing and Payroll management: Billing and payroll management can be integrated directly into the HR management tool to seamlessly calculate appropriate compensation for your staff and charge your clients accordingly.
• Third-party integration: Organizations opting for time-tracking software should have a third-party integration feature so that team members can access other productivity tools from a single platform.
• Reporting and analytics: Although the time-tracking feature enables team members to track their time; project managers will need other visual features such as reporting and analytics to derive helpful and valuable information.

How to Use Time Tracking Software for Better Project Management

1. Use time-tracking software to maintain all time-related activities in a project.
2. Set realistic deadlines and track the frequency of task completion.
3. Compare estimated time with actual time spent on tasks.
4. Maintain weekly, and monthly timesheets of time spent on various tasks.
5. Use data and insights from time-tracking software to create reports.

Smart time tracking with Orangescrum Timesheet enables you to review your own performance over a set period of time and encourages improvements in your daily habits.

It allows you to track billable time spent on any task/activity and helps you understand when you work best and which task priority needs to be changed.

Across the Fortune 500, senior executives take the Myers Briggs personality test to ensure they are doing work more efficiently and that the work falls under their skill set. As much as such tests can show, at the end of the day, it’s what, when and how you work that reflects on your life.

So stop wasting the precious resource you have and start investing in keeping yourself organized and efficient.

Are You Looking for Project Management Software with Advanced Time Tracking Tool? – Try Orangescrum