![\"timesheet1\"](\"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/timesheet1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n“Have you done your timesheets?” This question is loathed by managers and staff alike in a professional services firm. I don’t propose to have the answers, but these strategies and lessons learned may help you if you are responsible for tracking your life in 15-minute intervals.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I walk across the studio floor to see my Lead Graphic Designer and a Project Manager smiling as they look at the monitor.\u00a0 They point to a graph with a series of blue vertical bars and a solid orange line.\u00a0 When I asked what the go was, the project manager said \u201cWe did it!\u201d.\u00a0 For the date range they were looking at, all the blue bars were under the orange line except one that was only 0.3 over.\u00a0 There was no reward or incentive for staying under the orange line, just the challenge of doing it.\u00a0 Pondering the\u00a0scenario\u00a0after the fact, I realised that the word \u201ctimesheet\u201d did not come up in the conversation.<\/p>\n
![\"time_sheet\"](\"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/time_sheet-1024x579.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Timesheets have been described as the bane of professional services companies.\u00a0 In a 2010 study of law firms<\/a>, timesheeting was described as \u201cthe worst part of law firm life\u201d.\u00a0 The study calculated overhead for doing timesheets as 3.1 hours per month, or $16,294 per lawyer per year.\u00a0 Similar challenges are felt in digital agencies<\/a>, albeit at a lower hourly rate.<\/p>\n The criticisms against keeping timesheets<\/a> are many. Those who protest\u00a0say<\/a>\u00a0forcing timesheet completion does not treat staff as adults. \u00a0Some take a position that teams should be judged by what they get done rather than how long it took. \u00a0A few state that time taken to complete timesheets could be better spent working on billable work. There are others who support the concept of tracking time but recommend against charging by the hour<\/a>\u00a0and moving towards a value-based proposition<\/a>.<\/p>\n The move to a values-based accounting approach<\/a>\u00a0is appealing, but it is a difficult journey in a traditional fee-for-service industry. “Time” in the form of staff investment remains the common denominator of cost, and costs are measured to predict profit. Some projects are billed at time and materials while others are fixed price based on an initial estimation of time. \u00a0Timesheets justify billing and determine efficiency in either scenerio.<\/p>\n Timesheets tell you how long something takes, which can be used to assess how much time you have remaining based on the estimate complete (acknowledging\u00a0planning fallacy<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0estimating biases<\/a>). \u00a0Timesheets can also assist in bottom-up estimating<\/a>\u00a0by looking at how time spent on similar tasks, report on costs of business impacts such as quality and scope planning, and are an input to training and personal development as we chat about getting more of what works and less of what doesn’t \u00a0in our business.<\/p>\n Timesheets have been a consistent challenge in our digital studio through our growth to over 55 staff. \u00a0We did not go so far as some like Razorfish who\u00a0publicly\u00a0shamed repeat\u00a0offenders<\/a>, but we did use emails, pleading, and stern looks to no avail. Some team members consistently lagged behind, while others consistently completed their timesheets. Telling someone to “just be more like so and so” was as ineffective as it sounds.<\/p>\n This has changed over the past several weeks, thanks in part to a blue bar and orange line.\u00a0 I am cautious of providing a to-do instruction list such as \u201chow to get employees to fill out timesheets<\/a>“. \u00a0The mentality behind \u201cgetting\u201d people to do anything was part of the challenge we had to overcome.\u00a0 That said, feel free to ponder some learning points below and consider how they may help in your own journey:<\/p>\n Such is as the late Covey said<\/a>.\u00a0 To fully understand timesheeting challenges, we had meetings with each person to understand their perspective.\u00a0 Issues came up such as an incredibly frustrating interface, getting asked to do 20 different tasks in an hour, not knowing the task against which to assign time, being unable \u00a0to create tasks for new work, and not having time to finish the work before the end of the day, much less record time for the the work. \u00a0I also started doing timesheets to discover the truth for myself. I discovered that yes, timesheets suck.<\/p>\n We systematically removed each of the barriers, and lo and behold, timesheets became less of an issue.<\/p>\n No one specifically wanted<\/em>\u00a0timesheets completed. \u00a0A timesheet as an end goal of your vision statement is not compelling. \u00a0Timesheet data does not make you profitable, but it may<\/em> point to areas where you can increase profitability. Make sure everyone understands why the timesheet data is important and where it sits in the profitability journey; the reason for the pain.<\/p>\n \u201cTimesheet better\u201d is a lag goal<\/a>, and a frustrating one at that.\u00a0 Lag goals are things like “improve profitability” or “work harder”. These are difficult to measure and frustrating to achieve. Lead goals are discrete measurable targets that contribute to lag goals.<\/p>\n For the studio, we have a lead goal of reducing the gap between the time effort is applied and the time effort is recorded.\u00a0 If that number is less than 24 hours, I promise to never have awkward timesheet conversations with you again.<\/p>\n Fear of retribution is a huge barrier to completing timesheets.\u00a0 Gaining visibility into an issue does not mean the issue has not been in place for months.\u00a0 Reactions from managers when exposed to the data can often come from a shame base<\/a>. \u00a0Our autocratically-inclined organisations tend to push responsibility and accountability down the hierarchy when everyone in the chain has contributed to the issue at hand.<\/p>\n Timesheet data is a great opportunity to look the information as a group and collectively decide what it means and what actions need to be taken.<\/p>\n I am not a big fan of the word \u201cgamification<\/a>\u201d, but I accept the principles of making work more fun.\u00a0 People spend hours with an Xbox controller staring at their TV, but typing on a keyboard for 10 minutes to enter timesheet data can be like climbing a mountain.\u00a0 While my studio timesheet system will never compete with Halo on the fun-scale, I was adamant I did not want a text-based timesheet report. At some point we may replace the blue bars with Pok\u00e9mon and the orange line with fire, but for now the graph means we can discuss the topic without using the dreaded word \u201ctimesheet\u201d.<\/p>\n I start with a presumption that people are not malicious, incompetent or lazy.\u00a0 On the contrary, I assume they are accountable<\/a>, highly skilled and diligent.\u00a0 Start from a position that people want to do good and position yourself to help them do good the best they can.<\/p>\n Timesheets are a small (albeit important) piece of the studio management puzzle.\u00a0 With accurate timesheet data, we can now better estimate time to completion, which will help with scheduling and identifying ways to improve project efficiency and thereby overall studio efficiency.<\/p>\n I believe once companies achieve a level of profitability to be sustainable, returns from efficiency can be distributed across three areas: \u00a01)<\/strong> to those who make the company a success, 2)<\/strong> invested in personal and corporate growth opportunities, and 3)<\/strong> shared for social goodwill that leaves a legacy beyond the products we produce or services we provide.<\/p>\nSeven strategies to complete studio timesheets<\/h2>\n
![\"BlueBar_OrangeLine1\"](\"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/BlueBar_OrangeLine1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n1. Seek first to understand, than be understood<\/h3>\n
2. Know why you measure<\/h3>\n
3. Find your lead measure<\/h3>\n
4. Do not judge the data<\/h3>\n
5. Make it a game<\/h3>\n
6. Get your frame right<\/h3>\n
7. Pursue autonomy, mastery, and purpose<\/h3>\n