How the TrackingTime Team Uses TrackingTime for Daily Operations

TrackingTime is designed to help teams of all sizes manage their tasks, track time efficiently, and collaborate seamlessly on projects. In this article, we’ll take you behind the scenes to show how different departments within TrackingTime leverage the tool to enhance their day-to-day operations.

Using Our Own Tool to Empower Daily Operations

At TrackingTime, we believe in the power of our product. That’s why we don’t just build and sell our time tracking tool—we use it every day to streamline our operations and improve our workflows. By integrating TrackingTime into our daily routines, we ensure that we’re not only delivering a great product to our users but also optimizing our own productivity.

Team Roles, Responsibilities, and TrackingTime Usage

Our team is composed of diverse roles, each with its own set of responsibilities that align perfectly with the features TrackingTime offers. Here’s a snapshot of how different departments within our company use the tool to manage their daily tasks and responsibilities:

Product Team

Focuses on developing new features and refining the product based on user feedback. They rely on TrackingTime’s “Custom Fields” to manage task status, prioritize development work, and keep projects on track.

Frontend Developers

Responsible for building and optimizing the user interface. They use TrackingTime to log hours in real-time, especially during coding and testing, ensuring accurate time tracking with the “Timer” feature.

Backend Developers

Oversee system architecture and backend operations. They frequently collaborate on projects using TrackingTime to report issues, track progress, and ensure smooth development cycles.

Marketing Team

Leads marketing strategies, manages campaigns, and uses TrackingTime to organize tasks, track project timelines, and prioritize workloads using Task List and Board views.

UX/UI Design

Crafts intuitive and engaging designs. They use TrackingTime to organize design tasks, track revisions, and collaborate with other departments, leveraging features like “List” and “Boards” for effective task management.

HR

Manages internal processes and employee well-being. While they primarily use other tools for daily tasks, HR integrates TrackingTime for specific operational projects to collaborate effectively with other departments.

Customer Success

Provides support and ensures users get the most out of TrackingTime. They track time spent on resolving customer issues and collaborate with the technical team to address user feedback.

How We Use TrackingTime Across Departments

Each team leverages TrackingTime’s features according to their specific needs.

Task Management

Task management is a core part of our daily operations, and 72% of our team uses TrackingTime to stay organized. Task List and Board views are integral to how we prioritize and manage our workloads.

For example, our marketing team manages ongoing campaigns with Boards to easily prioritize tasks by deadlines or importance, ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks. Similarly, developers use Task List to keep track of their assignments, sorting them by priority or due date to maintain a clear focus throughout the day.

Project Collaboration

Collaboration is crucial, especially when multiple teams need to work together to solve problems or launch new features. In fact, 63.6% of our team uses TrackingTime to collaborate on projects.

For instance, our customer success team works closely with the development team to address user issues. They use TrackingTime to report problems, track progress, and ensure that issues are resolved promptly. This collaboration not only improves our response times but also enhances the overall user experience.

Daily Organization

Staying organized is essential for productivity, and 72% of our team relies on TrackingTime to plan and structure their day. They use Task List to keep their tasks in order, ensuring that they focus on the most important work first.

One of our UX/UI designers shared that they frequently use Task List to organize tasks by priority or deadline, which helps them manage their workload more effectively. This type of organization is key to ensuring that all tasks are completed on time and to a high standard.

Time Tracking Habits: Planning Ahead vs. Real-Time vs. Task Completion Logging

Time tracking is at the heart of what we do at TrackingTime, and our team’s habits reflect the diverse ways in which our tool can be used. When it comes to logging hours, our team has developed distinct preferences that cater to their specific workflows.

Planning Ahead

A smaller segment of our team, about 10%, prefers to log their hours in advance. This approach is particularly useful for tasks that are predictable and can be scheduled ahead of time, such as recurring meetings or routine administrative work. By planning ahead, these team members ensure that their time is allocated efficiently, allowing them to focus on execution without worrying about tracking in real-time.

Real-Time Logging

Approximately 45% of our team logs time in real-time using the Timer. This method is favored by roles that require intense focus, such as developers and designers, who need to track the exact time spent on coding, testing, or designing.

Real-time logging allows them to capture every minute of their work, providing precise data that helps in analyzing productivity and project timelines.

Task Completion Logging

The other 45% of our team prefers to log time after completing their tasks. This approach is ideal for those who work on tasks that require deep concentration and do not want to interrupt their flow with real-time tracking. Once a task is completed, they log their hours, ensuring accuracy without disrupting their workflow. This method is often used by team members who juggle multiple tasks and prefer to reflect on the time spent once their work is done.

The Role of AutoTrack

In addition to these methods, AutoTrack is a popular choice for those who need an effortless way to track time without manual input. AutoTrack ensures that no time goes untracked, automatically logging hours as team members move through their tasks. This feature is especially useful for those who switch between tasks frequently or need to capture time spent on smaller, less structured activities.

Preferred Apps and Tools

Each team member can choose the most suitable way of using TrackingTime, that includes which apps and tools they want to integrate into their workflow.

Web and Desktop Usage

When it comes to where our team uses TrackingTime, the recently redesigned web app is the clear favorite, with 85% of the team using it regularly. The web app provides the visibility and functionality needed to manage multiple tasks and projects efficiently. The desktop app, used by 15% of our team, offers similar benefits, especially for those who prefer a dedicated workspace for their time tracking or simply want to rely on AutoTrack.

Mobile and Extension

While the mobile app and extensions are currently less used, they remain valuable tools for certain situations, such as tracking time on the go or quickly logging tasks. As the tool evolves, we anticipate increased adoption of these platforms, especially as we continue to enhance their capabilities.

Collaboration and Task Clarity

TrackingTime offers a suite of features designed to enhance task management and project organization, with Custom Fields, Notes, and Files playing a crucial role in how our team stays on top of their work.

Custom Fields

Custom Fields are a powerful feature that our team uses to tailor tasks and projects to specific needs. By adding Custom Fields, team members can track unique aspects of their work, such as task status, priority levels, or any other custom criteria that are important for project management. For instance, our product team frequently uses Custom Fields to manage the status of feature development, ensuring that every task is aligned with the project’s overall timeline and objectives.

These fields provide the flexibility needed for detailed task management, allowing us to categorize and filter tasks based on the most relevant parameters. This level of customization ensures that our team has the clarity they need to manage complex projects efficiently.

Notes

The Notes feature is another essential part of our workflow. It allows team members to add detailed descriptions, updates, and comments directly to tasks, ensuring that everyone involved has access to the latest information. Whether it’s a developer documenting a bug fix or a designer outlining the next steps for a project, Notes help keep all relevant details in one place.

Notes are particularly useful in collaborative environments, where multiple team members need to stay informed about the progress of a task. By centralizing this information, we reduce the risk of miscommunication and ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Files

Finally, the Files feature allows our team to attach relevant documents, images, and other files directly to tasks. This feature is invaluable for tasks that require detailed reference materials, such as design mockups, project briefs, or technical documentation.

By keeping all necessary files attached to the corresponding tasks, we streamline the workflow and make it easier for team members to access the resources they need without searching through multiple platforms. This not only saves time but also enhances productivity by ensuring that all task-related information is readily available.

How Our Team Leverages TrackingTime Every Day

Daily Workflow Integration

Here are a few examples of how our team integrates TrackingTime into their daily workflows:

Organizing and Prioritizing Tasks

Our UX/UI design team frequently uses Task List to sort their tasks by priority and deadline. This allows them to focus on the most pressing design projects first, ensuring that each task is completed on time and meets our quality standards.

Collaborating on Technical Projects

The development team uses TrackingTime to collaborate on resolving user-reported issues. They track the progress of a bug fix from start to finish using Boards, ensuring that each step is documented and that the customer success team is informed of the resolution status in real-time.

Managing Project Details with Custom Fields

The product team heavily relies on Custom Fields to track the status of ongoing feature developments. By customizing fields to reflect the current phase of each task—such as “In Development,” “Testing,” or “Completed”—they can easily see where each task stands and ensure that nothing falls behind schedule.

Optimizing Meeting Times

Some team members synchronize their calendars with TrackingTime to automatically track the time spent in meetings. This integration helps them manage their day more effectively by providing a clear overview of how much time is allocated to meetings versus other tasks.

Efficient File Management

The marketing team uses the Files feature to attach creative assets, campaign briefs, and other important documents directly to their tasks. This centralizes all necessary information, making it easier to access and share files with the rest of the team, reducing time spent searching for documents across different platforms.

Feature Feedback and Future Enhancements

Our team is committed to continuously improving TrackingTime, and we take internal feedback seriously. Along with the feedback gathered from our users, it directly influences our product development, driving future updates that will benefit both our team and our users.

Key Takeaways

Internal Usage Reflects Real-World Application

Our use of TrackingTime is a testament to its effectiveness. The way we rely on the tool to manage tasks, track time, and collaborate on projects mirrors the challenges and needs of our users. We encourage you to explore similar features in your workflow, as they have significantly enhanced our productivity and organization.

Continuous Improvement Based on User Feedback

User feedback is crucial to the evolution of TrackingTime, and our team leads by example. We continuously evaluate the tool and implement changes that will improve the user experience. Your feedback is invaluable in this process, and we invite you to share your thoughts to help us make TrackingTime even better.

Maximize Your Team’s Workflow with TrackingTime

If you’re not already using TrackingTime to its fullest potential, now is the time to start. Try out the features we’ve highlighted, and see how they can transform your workflow. We’re always here to listen to your feedback and make improvements that will help you work smarter, just as TrackingTime helps us every day.

Remember, TrackingTime isn’t just a tool we provide—it’s a tool we trust to keep our own operations running smoothly. Join us in making the most of every minute.