{"id":157,"date":"2020-02-05T08:07:30","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T13:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/niftypm.com\/blog\/?p=157"},"modified":"2023-11-30T11:42:47","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T16:42:47","slug":"maximizing-productivity-time-tracking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niftypm.com\/blog\/maximizing-productivity-time-tracking\/","title":{"rendered":"Maximizing Productivity Time Tracking (+ Top 4 Productivity Apps 2021)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tracking your employees\u2019 or your own productivity has never been easier. All you have to do is install one of the popular\u00a0time tracking tool<\/a>. The clock starts ticking at 9 and by 5 you\u2019ll be able to see just how productive you have been that day. But is it that simple?<\/p>\n

If you truly want to understand how your employees tick and what kind of workflow will\u00a0skyrocket your SaaS<\/a>\u00a0or marketing business, productivity takes much more than simple math. It takes the right tools and a personal approach to your goals and employees.<\/p>\n

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Now let\u2019s get a few things cleared\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

How time tracking won\u2019t boost productivity<\/h2>\n

If you try looking into some of the\u00a0statistics about workplace productivity<\/a>, you\u2019ll notice their approach usually revolves around millions and billions of dollars that are lost because employees catch a cold, write work-related emails or attend work-related meetings.<\/p>\n

This approach is fundamentally wrong in more than one way, but to wrap it into one simple common denominator \u2014\u00a0traditional time tracking does not recognize the unique character of software development and similar modern businesses\u2019 workflow.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unproductive time tracking usually starts with setting benchmarks based on optimistic estimates or unrealistic expectations. It also means ignoring unique processes that comprise product development or your organization\u2019s specific workflow. Ultimately, this can only turn time tracking into a source of frustration and employee dissatisfaction. And guess what happens when employees are overworked, frustrated, and dissatisfied? Yep. Productivity will decrease.<\/p>\n

How time tracking will boost productivity<\/h2>\n

On the other hand, time tracking can and absolutely will boost your productivity if you use it to keep yourself and others focused on the workflow.\u00a0This does not mean keeping everyone busy at all times \u2014 it means helping everyone understand how to make the best of their time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start by\u00a0answering these questions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

1. What does productivity mean for my business?<\/h3>\n

\u201cYou get what you inspect, not what you expect\u201d. If you want time tracking to boost your productivity<\/a>, both you and your team members have to know what your expectations are.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s imagine that you are\u00a0running a blog<\/strong>\u00a0and tracking how much time two employees take to write a 1000-word article. If we are looking solely at numbers, the one who finishes it in 3 hours is more productive than the employee who took 10 hours to complete the task.<\/p>\n

Yet, there is a difference between an entertainment listicle and a well-researched article that brings some informative or educational value to the reader. Moreover, if the latter article brings in more traffic, leads, and sales, the idea of the second person as \u201cless productive\u201d doesn\u2019t make much sense.<\/p>\n

However, this is also\u00a0a matter of business goals<\/strong>. Some blogs function as content mills, where large and quick output is the primary fuel for traffic and income. Other blogs focus on slow-burning strategy with carefully curated content that takes longer to produce. So, despite being in the same industry, these two blogs have a fairly different definition of productivity.<\/p>\n

2. Which metrics can I track?<\/h3>\n

Sometimes, time-tracking metrics can be fairly simple. You count the hours spent executing work-related tasks and measure whether it took longer than usual to complete them. Yet we already pointed out that the simple input-output is not always the way to tell whether your time was well-spent.<\/p>\n

Things get even more complicated with\u00a0<\/strong>time tracking productivity in SaaS businesses<\/strong><\/a>. As projects can take weeks or months, it\u2019s hard to measure the final product against daily input. Some managers\u00a0count developers\u2019 lines of code per hour, but this also means little in terms of productivity<\/strong>. Developers can easily add excessive lines to rack up the count and other times, shorter or deleted code is a better solution to a specific problem.<\/p>\n

While estimates can be a solid benchmark, it is a well-known reality of software development that they are just that \u2014 estimates<\/strong>. The lack of scope, unrealistic expectations, multitasking, and the branching micro-decisions typical for coding can easily turn an eight-hour milestone into three days of work.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, to track productivity, especially in SaaS,\u00a0you have to understand your industry, goals, and specific requirements of your individual business and project at hand<\/strong>. If daily meetings, brainstorming sessions, answering emails or performing research are an integral part of your workflow, you cannot count these hours as \u201cunproductive\u201d or a waste of time.<\/p>\n

3. How can productivity time tracking help me?<\/h3>\n

Making the best of your time also requires your team to get on board. Although using time trackers in software development and freelancing is a standard,\u00a0bad managers often turn it into a tool for excessive micro-management and payment disputes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

By the point you clearly define your organizational goals and appropriate metrics of productivity, you already understand that\u00a0being productive is not about racking up endless hours or trying to cram three days of work in one day<\/strong>. If you communicate this clearly to your team members, rest assured they will be enthusiastic to get on board with time tracking and measuring productivity.<\/p>\n

Some of the important considerations in this phase include:<\/h3>\n