Reasons to Love Time Sheets- In project management, the timesheet is an indispensable tool to manage its hours effectively and to have a visibility on the workload of each employee. Unfortunately, the implementation of such a system can sometimes be misunderstood by the project manager as well as by the members of the team. Indeed, some project managers do not see the interest of timesheets and think that their implementation will degrade the climate of trust established with the members of his team.
As for the employees, they feel they are being monitored and controlled, which leads to a drop in performance and motivation. All the opposite of what you want to create within your team.
Yet it is essential to measure what is achieved in order to be more efficient and to know where we are going. Successful project managers know this. Here are 3 false beliefs on the timesheet and 3 true reasons to love this essential tool to effectively manage the time spent on your project.
Misconception about timesheet
- Tracking hours is Authoritarian
You believe that the timesheet is the pyramid management tool that controls and controls everything. For you, this type of management is completely outdated in favor of collaborative work and the horizontal hierarchy. So you think that the timesheet has no place in this collaborative system. Well you are wrong.
In collaborative management, several people can work on the same task. If each one takes in the hours worked on this task, it is then easier to summarize the hours spent and to know precisely how long it will take to complete this task.
Gone are the riddles to find out who worked on how long. It is therefore easier to entrust a task to several people and to know the real efforts that have been made to accomplish it.
- Timesheet is a Micro-Management tool
The micro-management is characterized by an obsessive attention to detail, the fussy control and excessive observation of any fact and act of each of its employees.
Being constantly behind your team members, spying on their way of working and asking for reports every 30 minutes is a waste of time for you and for them. Moreover, working under such conditions is counterproductive, boring, demotivating and frustrating for your employees. This style of management is not required in project management, especially if you are surrounded by a trusted team.
Tracking time spent on a task has nothing to do with micro-management. Your employees remain autonomous. They are free to organize their work day as they see fit and to manage their tasks as they wish. The key is that they meet the final objectives and meet the deadlines set. All they have to do is postpone the hours worked on a task on the timesheet.
- Tracking hours is a Waste of time
The current time management systems are so easy and quick to use that you will not waste time using them. Typically, the timesheet is an integrated feature of project management software. The different activities of the project are already recorded and allocated. The only action left to do is to record the time spent on a particular activity. And it does not take more than five minutes.
In fact, you will even save time. If you use project management software to record your hours, data about your project automatically updates in real time. You know the progress of your project, the hours already worked and the time remaining. Same thing if you modify a task, duration, or a deadline, everything updates automatically.
Do not wait until the end of the week to return your hours because you may no longer remember, and you will waste time trying to remember them. In addition, the information will certainly be inaccurate. Rather get used to filling out your timesheet every day at the end of the day.
The real reasons to love the timesheet
- Get the resources you need
You cannot reach the deadlines despite a successful team? Despite the hard work and ongoing efforts of your team, the workload is too great. Thanks to the time sheets of your team, show your managers that you need additional resources to finish the project on time. This is irrefutable proof!
- Be More Profitable
Time tracking lets you know if you and your team are profitable and know the cost of your project depending on the time spent. If you are not profitable, determine your weaknesses and make efforts where necessary. You only have to consult the timesheets to know where to act, and so avoid losing money.
- Anticipate Delays
Thanks to the time sheets, you can follow the progress of the project in real time. You know if a task is approaching its deadline and what is its level of achievement. Thus, you can distribute urgent tasks on collaborators who are more available. Your resources are better managed and delays can be anticipated.
Conclusion
Tracking hours is not the most interesting part of project management, but it is an essential step to be successful and to know where the project is. An essential tool for managing team time effectively, the timesheet is easy and quick to use. Do not wait to adopt it.
Hello everyone! This is Richard Daniels, a full-time passionate researcher & blogger. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Economics. He loves to write about economics, e-commerce, and business-related topics for students to assist them in their studies. That's the sole purpose of Business Study Notes.
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