Simple Time Tracking for the Private Practitioner or Consultant

I had long been averse to the idea of charging directly for my time by the hour, in part because I dreaded the idea of some timer ticking away on my screen. Having recently evaluated literally dozens of different software packages for tracking project time, I can honestly say that most of them are just as dreadful as I’d imagined. But at least one is not dreadful at all. If you’re looking for an easy and unobtrusive way of tracking your time, check out our review of OfficeTime.

Wow, have I been dreading the idea of ever having to track my time directly, with a timer. I’d always imagined it would be fussy and distracting and really not worth the effort.

But despite my best efforts to avoid the whole idea — for example, I’ve long used word count-based pricing structures in my own online counselling practice, and stuck with full day rates for business consulting jobs — new projects recently developed in my business that really did call for full-fledged time tracking by the minute. I set out to evaluate dozens of different software packages that might be able to do what I wanted, but for the most part, they made an awful match with my requirements.

At last, however, I stumbled upon one that did exactly what I needed, did it unobtrusively, and didn’t require me to jump through hoops to see results. If you’re looking for a handy project timing application, save yourself some headaches and check out our review of OfficeTime.

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