Best time tracking productivity tool?

Nate Holbrook Founder / CEO at Lilac

November 25th, 2015

I want to implement a time-tracking tool that is simple to use and very intuitive for my team and I to use in order to ensure we are efficiently working through our assigned tasks. I’ve come across Yast, but was wondering if anyone knows of any other time-tracking/managing tools that work really well?

Vijay MD Founder Chefalytics, Co-owner Bite Catering Couture, Independent consultant (ex-McKinsey)

November 25th, 2015

What are you looking to use it for? There's a wide range we've looked at for various reasons from automating payroll (Paychex) to clock-in/ clock-out for more accurate timestamps (T-sheets) to invoicing (Harvest) to task-level tracking (asana + harvest) to blocking out non-work websites (rescue time)

Emily Landsburg Managing Partner at Blue Hill Partners

November 25th, 2015

I love toggl. And it's free. Sent from my iPhone

Andrew Lockley Investments & consulting for tech startups

November 25th, 2015

I just use gcal to schedule tasks into work blocks, but it's not designed for billing clients. You don't make clear what you're using it for. Andrewlockley.com

Shams Juma

November 25th, 2015

Try timelyapp.com

Barrett Griffith Product Engineering Consultant

November 25th, 2015

I use HubStaff.com

Kirsten Minshall Founder of UVD and CTO at Limpid Markets

November 25th, 2015

We use Harvest to track our time and it's got some pretty good tools for planning, reporting and invoicing as well as some useful API integrations (we sync with Trello). We use it primarily because our work is billed to clients so I'm a little wary of your comment:

'in order to ensure we are efficiently working through our assigned tasks'

Tracking time doesn't and never will ensure you do anything other than record time (and use up some of your team members precious time in doing so). It will also never tell you how effective you are.

If you're interested in understanding your teams efficiency then assuming you break down work into work items (such as user stories) then the simplest thing to do is record how many things your team gets complete (done done, deployed, whatever) each week and measure that week on week. I'm not about to explain the details here - there's a plethora of Agile resources and there a blog post I wrote here.

To reiterate: we use time tracking software to track time so we can bill for our work, I wouldn't (and couldn't) advocate using time tracking software to understand efficiency or effectiveness.

John Franklin Builder and Redeemer of Great Brands|Marketing Strategy and Innovation Consultant|Startup Advisor

November 26th, 2015

I like Timesheet and Boomr; the latter also exports to several online payroll mgmt companies. Cheers!

Paul Lange Brand Loyalty & Customer Experiences Trainer | Financier | Investor | People, Planet, Profits with Purpose

November 25th, 2015

Lot of good suggestions here. Comes down to requirements. We've used different things and have found Harvest to be the best all-rounder. Love TimeTimer for the physicality and virtual #kickuptheass factor

Ismail Berkan Lean Innovation Consultant | Digital Strategy & Transformation Advisor | Startup Mentor & Coach

November 25th, 2015

You may use a simple device called Time Timer. See here how Google Ventures utilized this tool.

Andrea Mulligan

November 30th, 2015

HI Nate,

We are developing a new breed of time tracking and professional services automation (PSA). I'd love to chat with you about your requirements to see if we can get you in our beta.

I have a number of time slots available today/tomorrow if you can chat for 30 minutes or so.

Thanks

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