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Time tracking for busy project managers

I am handling 20+ projects at the same time. There are always 2-3 new ongoing projects and there is also a huge number of clients who want upgrades.

I am jumping from task to task, from email to phone and trying to be in the loop with the developers.

The number of tasks I held in a day may vary from 10 to 30.

Previously, I have tried to use pen and paper to record what I am doing and for how long. That was okay, but I had a problem with the accurate time tracking. It was very hard to track time when someone disrupted me.

After that period, I completely abandoned time tracking for 3 months. This was another mistake. We estimated my project management time based on our guts. Sometimes, real time has been higher 3 times of the estimation. This was lost money.

Then I’ve decided to use Toggle. An application which I have used before, during one freelance project. 

My top 5 reasons for using the Toggle app:

  • Apps for Windows, OSX, iOS, Android, Chrome extension
  • Nice widget for starting, stopping and history
  • When you do not track time there is a reminder not to forget to track.
  • When you’re tracking time, but your mouse is idle, Toggle will ask what to do with that idle time. It can be added to a current task, deleted or added to some new task.
  • Toggle will remember previous task names and it will suggest them within the next entry.
  • Weekly reports
  • Pomodoro timer helps you to stretch and have a walk from time to time.
  • You can edit an ongoing time, name of a task or minutes you have spent.

Those are the options I am using. I hope you will find these information helpful to decide which tracking app you will use.

https://toggl.com/

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