Why is it that in every work environment that I’ve ever worked, the accounting/project teams are constantly in battle with the creative/tech teams to get their timesheets done. Why is it so difficult to record the time you’ve spent on a given project on a given day.
Now as I manage my business, I can see both sides of this discussion. When I have my business hat on, I see that I need to know how much time I spend on each part of a given project. I need it not only for bookkeeping reasons but also for solidifying my process of estimation. The more information I have about how long something similar has taken in the past, the better I’m going to know long it will take in the future.
When I am in development or design mode, I feel like all of that bookkeeping gets in the way of my creative process. I have my head down and in the flow of that project. There are plenty of distractions already that take my time and attention away from doing the work. I feel like keeping my timesheet is just another one of those distractions.
Can’t we all just get along? Unfortunately, probably not. I see the value in recording my time, sheerly because I have to deal with the ramifications of not. As a rule, the people who don’t like to get out of their flow to record their time do not have to deal with the business implications of not doing them. If you don’t have a hand in budgeting, bookkeeping/accounting, resource planning or project estimating, you most likely won’t see the value of timesheets. And on the flipside, if you don’t have parts of your job that depend on the creative process, you won’t truly understand getting into that creative flow that is required to do your best work.
I think our only hope is to trust the people we work with. If you’re on the creative side, trust that timesheets are important (they still may be lame and annoying). If you’re on the bookkeeping/accounting side of things, a healthy respect for the creative process would go a long way to show the creative folks in your workplace that you may not understand, but you do care.