5 Reasons Why You Should Try Time Tracking as a Creative

04/10/20192 comments

Time tracking is key to managing your time well in the creative industry. I have been using a tracking app for a number of years. Therefore, I’ve gained an understanding of how important it is to know how long it takes to complete a task. Whether you’re an editor or any other type of creative, then you must have been asked the question ‘How long would x, y, z take?’. Sometimes it can be hard to give a fair estimate. It can feel like a shot in the dark unless you have data to help you give an informed answer.

But how can you collect such data? Quite easily – by simply tracking your production times every single day.

Here are my top 5 reasons why time tracking can be helpful to you.

Speeding up your workflow

When you have an accurate report on how you’ve spent every single minute on a project it can be easy to identify which tasks have taken you the longest. Once you have that information you can look into ways to help you become more efficient in that specific area. If you’re an editor like me then you could refresh your memory by learning a few forgotten keyboard shortcuts or adapt new techniques to make your workflow faster.

Accountability

Whether you’re a freelancer or a full-time employee you should always be able to report the tasks you’ve managed to complete throughout your day. As creatives, we sometimes forget that our clients or managers don’t necessarily have an understanding of the technical or creative side of the process and why certain tasks take longer than others. Therefore, if you have a record of your timings and you’ve proved that spending a couple of extra hours on what has turned out to be an outstanding piece of work, you’d be seen as more competent and well-organised.

Price quotation become a breeze

Writing project proposals, especially when you’re a freelancer can be tricky. Most of the time you’re usually trying to balance between a good offer and giving yourself enough production time to complete the project. To avoid guessing what would be realistic, I would always refer back to my time reports from past projects. Building an archive of reports can take some time but it is invaluable when you need it.

Productivity

Once you’ve made a habit of tracking your production time it won’t take long for you to notice you’re becoming more productive. There is something about writing down a task you’ve completed and seeing a tick next to it. It makes you feel like you’ve achieved something today and it subconsciously motivates you to do more.

Improving of your organisational skills

Now that you’ve analysed your workflow and pinpointed the tasks which take you the longest you can start prioritising. I personally, prefer to get the smaller tasks out of the way first. Then I can really focus on the more complex and time-consuming ones. Deciding how to plan your day can also depend on when you’re most productive. For some creatives that could be late at night when you’re not interrupted by emails. Or on the contrary – early in the morning before the day has even begun.

If you’d like to give time tracking a go, the app I would personally recommend is Toggl. It works best for freelancers and individuals and it offers simple tracking with its friendly, easy to learn interface. You can use it literally anywhere because it has a mobile app, browser extension, web interface and a desktop app. What’s best about it is that the free version is really generous and basically has no limitations. Unless you need some of the more advanced features, the free version will most likely work for you.

Would you give time tracking a go? If you’re already using a time tracking app – how are you finding it?