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The case for tracking time is usually made in the context of billing by the hour. If you charge a day rate or fixed project fee, the argument goes, you don’t need to track time, you’re getting paid the same either way.
That’s true as far as it goes. But it misses the reason time tracking is most useful, which is not about invoicing. It’s about understanding whether your estimates are accurate, which determines whether your pricing is sound.
Why it matters on fixed-price projects
When you quote a fixed price for a piece of work, you’re making an estimate about how long it will take. That estimate is based on your experience with similar work. If you’ve never systematically tracked how long things actually take, your estimates are based on memory and intuition, which tend to be optimistic.
The practical consequence is that fixed-price projects often take longer than you estimated, which means they earn you less per day than you intended. You may not notice this project by project, but across a year of work the pattern is usually clear.
Time tracking data from completed projects gives you a much more reliable basis for future estimates. “A communications strategy of this scope takes me around 12 days” is a statement grounded in evidence. “I think it’ll take about two weeks” is a guess.
How to make it a habit without it being a burden
The main reason people don’t track time is that it feels like admin for its own sake, especially when the information doesn’t seem to be doing anything useful. The way to make it feel worthwhile is to use the data, to actually review it at the end of a project and let it inform how you quote the next one.
Log time at the end of each day rather than at the end of the week or the project. Daily logging takes about five minutes and produces much more accurate data. Trying to reconstruct where your time went across a two-week project at the end of it produces rough approximations at best.
Keep the categories simple: strategy, writing, design management, client communication, review and revision, admin. The goal is enough granularity to be useful, not a minute-by-minute account.
What to do with the data
At the end of each project, spend 15 minutes comparing time spent to time estimated. Which tasks took longer than you thought? Which were faster? Are there patterns, a particular type of work that consistently runs over, or a phase of projects where things always slow down?
The most common finding for comms consultants is that client communication and revision rounds take longer than estimated. They’re not glamorous to budget for, but they’re a real cost and worth pricing accordingly.
A template to work from
The time tracking template is an Excel workbook with a daily log tab for recording tasks and time, and a project summary tab that calculates totals by category and compares them to your estimate. Comes with a PDF reference version.
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Time Tracking Template
Editable Excel workbook with daily log and project summary tabs, plus a PDF reference version.