[thelist] Filling up timesheets - good or bad?

[Madhu Menon]

At 08:52 AM 11/1/01 -0500, you wrote:
>Madhu
>
>Are you working for clients?
>
>If so, it's to ensure that all clients get billed the right amount
>for the work you do for them. It's not to decide how much you
>personally get paid, it's to decide how much the firm gets paid.
>
>Also, it ensures that if you're not working for clients, you're doing
>something else productive.

Ah, but you see we don't usually bill on an hourly basis. So, it doesn't 
matter how many hours we spend. If I put a Senior Web Author on the job and 
she can do it twice as fast as a regular web author, that's my problem.  So 
at least in that area, time sheets don't help.

I also think that it's relatively easier to fill in time-sheets when your 
tasks for the day are linear and well-defined. For example:

1) Format 20 pages for online demo of example.com
2) Change footer navigation for foo.com
3) Upload new HTML files for foo.com to server

In MY case, however, I'm almost often doing several things at any given 
time, and not one thing after the other. That's what happens when you 
manage a department. I find it very hard to clearly set down the 
achievements of a 30 minute time slot.

What about coffee breaks? Or time spent discussing code with a colleague? 
Or simply chatting about something? Since you can't put that into 
timesheets, people will simply lie.

And as a friend of mine pointed out, some people may interpret timesheets 
as a sign that a company distrusts its employees and needs to keep a 
constant watch on them.

I prefer a weekly report that summarises the week's happenings.

Regards,

Madhu


<<<   *   >>>
Madhu Menon
Head - User Experience Group
Trisoft Systems Pvt. Ltd.  http://www.trisoft.net
Global Software Services
e-mail: madhum at trisoft.net