| In most cultures, time is regarded as a fundamental | | | | Timesheet Illusions |
| quantity, i.e. time is not itself defined from other | | | | 1. Rounding errors: Timesheets typically have a start |
| fundamental qualities such as space or mass, rather it | | | | end date-time column or have entries required for |
| is itself defined by the units it is measured in, which for | | | | pre-booked 15 minute sessions. Neither of these are a |
| us would typically be seconds, that quantity know by | | | | reflection of how a job is actually completed. In fact if |
| almost every child as he/she counts off the rumble of | | | | you come right down to it, you can pretty much assert |
| distant thunder, 1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds etc. I | | | | that not a single job ever completed took exactly 10 |
| say 'most' cultures because of course some view time | | | | minutes (see Plancks time above). So if a job starts at |
| in a completely different way, such as the native | | | | 10:00:00 am and is finish at 10:26:04, then the time sheet |
| aborigines of Australia who believe time to be two | | | | entry will most likely read 10 to 10:30:00. Which when |
| parallel streams of activity, the daily objective reality of | | | | consolidated will read 30 minutes. So what happens to |
| time and dreamtime, a spiritual cycle more real than | | | | the other 3 minutes 56 seconds? |
| our current perceived reality. | | | | 2. Forgetting: If you have ever filled in time sheets, you'll |
| However, for the most of us, and most specifically in a | | | | know how easy it is, even after years of practice, to |
| business context, time is viewed the passage from | | | | forget to fill in your time sheet. Then you have to rely |
| one moment to the next and it is this relentless | | | | on memory, and that's as good as sticking your finger |
| progress of time, in a continued linear fashion, that | | | | in the air and giving a brute force estimation. |
| shapes our very existence, and its importance cannot | | | | 3. Interruptions: If you get interrupted by a coworker or |
| be overstated. From a humble rock, weathered by | | | | perhaps the phone goes while you are working. Do |
| eons of rain wind and frost to Planck Time, considered | | | | you add time to your timesheet? |
| the finest granularity of time there is with a single | | | | 4. Concentration: Your working away on a task that |
| second equivalent to 1.855×1043 Planck times, | | | | requires your full attention - and when you next look at |
| we cannot escape this fundamental quantity. Simply | | | | the clock, you realize you've missed the last 4 |
| put we cannot stop time, and must therefore accept | | | | timesheet entries. |
| that time is an inherent part of our existence, how ever | | | | 5. Mundane: The actual process of filling out a |
| bold or feeble that may be. | | | | timesheet is mundane and repetitive. Very few people |
| And because time is so fundamental, its use | | | | could actually put their hand in the air and say - "I enjoy |
| determines much of our daily routine, be that begging in | | | | doing this". And yet we persist with this archaic |
| a storefront or wielding the cheque book of a | | | | methodology. |
| multimillion dollar corporation, an inescapable | | | | 6. Time to Complete: Perhaps the biggest villain in the |
| consequence of our ever expanding material universe. | | | | collection of this time metric would be the very fact it |
| So how important is time in the context of business? | | | | takes time to complete a timesheet, and this, is the |
| Well, as resources continue to dwindle at an ever | | | | biggest cost factor to a business using this outdated |
| increasing rate, and as our own lives speed up with the | | | | metric collection agent. Consider a company of 750 |
| trappings of modern technology, the careful, mindful | | | | staff. If each are meant to fill in their timesheets every |
| use of time plays an ever increasing role to our | | | | 15 minutes, and it takes them juts 30 seconds per |
| civilization to a point that where the correct | | | | entry, then if the average cost of an employee is just |
| management of time becomes paramount for the | | | | $100 (includes their salary, office space and |
| success or failure of any business enterprise. | | | | overheads), then that business is loosing about $5 |
| First, let us understand that the amount of work done | | | | million dollars a year. Such a waste. |
| in a given time is called effort or labour productivity. So | | | | And if you really want to be impressed - consider this. |
| for example if it takes one person one hour to dig a | | | | In the United States, current estimates from the |
| hole, then the effort will be 1 person hour. If another | | | | Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that the current |
| person joins in at the start, then our productivity will | | | | workforce is 145,794,000. If we assume that just 1% of |
| double as it should in theory take half the amount of | | | | all employees keep timesheets, at a cost of six |
| time to dig a hole of the same dimensions. Of course | | | | thousand dollars a year, this equates to 8.5 billion dollars |
| this is only an approximation, as additional time may be | | | | in lost income, just completing the humble timesheet. |
| lost as each man fight for space as they dig, or time | | | | Timesheet Revolution |
| may be saved as they operate with synergy, perhaps | | | | At MetriQ we have spent years developing an |
| operating in series or in relay to dig the hole. | | | | alternative to the timesheet that requires no human |
| Regardless, the point is that each and every business | | | | interaction at all. The user simply clicks on the software |
| should keep abreast of the time metric - to measure | | | | they wish to use, and the MetriQ software will begin |
| the productivity of their staff and their production of | | | | timing the use of that software. As the user flips to |
| widgets or services. | | | | another software product, MetriQ again begins timing |
| At MetriQ we believe we have achieved some | | | | for that new software package - and so in continues, |
| measure of success in helping businesses around the | | | | such that at the end of the working day each and |
| world, save time, most especially through the | | | | every second has been accounted for, even those |
| replacement of time sheets. | | | | that were interrupted by phone calls or going to the |
| Time Sheets: Originally developed so that an employee | | | | bathroom. |
| can account to his/her employer the amount of time | | | | In other words, we believe that a computer should be |
| spent doing a particular job. While fine for the latter | | | | smart enough to know exactly how long its been use, |
| part of the industrial revolution, with the coming of age | | | | by who, on what and for whom, and without ever |
| of the computer, digitizing the timesheet into a | | | | being told. |
| software product has done little to change the way in | | | | It is also our belief that the days of the timesheet are |
| which this most valuable of metrics has been collected. | | | | numbered and rapidly coming to a close as alternative |
| Not only is the technology dated, but timesheets are | | | | technology emerges, and the value of each second |
| also prone to a number of obvious errors. | | | | wasted becomes more apparent. |