How To Make A Better Time Log

The first thing all time management experts recommend doing is having a time log. You need to know how you spend your time before you can manage it better. 

What is the standard approach to making a time log?

The standard approach to making a time log is: 

1. Make a template with 5 columns with these headings: date/time, activity description, how long spent on the activity, how you feel during the activity, and whether it has a low, medium or high value.
2. Complete the first three columns throughout the day, adding a new row every time you change activity.
3. At the end of the day, review the activities and complete the last two columns. 
4. Do this for a week and see what it shows about how you spend your time.

 This seems pretty straightforward but there are some problems with it.

What are the weaknesses of this approach?

1. We lie. A doctor friend of mine told me he always doubles the amount people say they smoke. If they say they smoke 10 a day, then he puts 20 down. We don't want to look bad. We want to look better than we are. So that 20 minutes checking facebook somehow becomes online research etc. 
2. By paying attention to our behaviour, we change our behaviour. People are on their best behaviour when watched. Even when it is only you recording things. We do things differently.
3. We do it too generally to be useful. The activity description becomes something like "email" or "speaking on the phone". It is not clear exactly what you are talking about or emailing.
4. We do it so detailed it becomes a substantial task. I've seen time logs with so much detail it is a wonder they managed to do anything else!
5. We don't do it when we should and approximate later. This is probably the most common weakness. We are so caught up in our work that we don't get to do the time log until later in the day. Obviously we can't remember everything or when exactly so we fill it in with out best guess. 
6. We edit out activity. That 20 minutes gossiping over coffee gets added into the meeting that followed. Very neat time logs with large amount of time to key activities are almost always guilty of editing out activity.

How can we make a better time log?

To make a better time log we need to get back to its purpose: to be able to identify either wasted time or inappropriate allocations of time to our activities. Here are my suggestions:

1. Prepare a list of high, medium and low value activities for your job in advance. Your high value activities will be those that contribute directly to your business objectives. Medium value will be necessary but not directly contributing to your objectives and low value activities are neither necessary nor contributing to your objectives. Be specific and don't generalise. For example, don't put "writing business cases" but describe each business case you need to write. 
2. Give each activity a number. You can then just write the number in the time log, making it easier to complete and with a pre-assigned value. 
3. Write a list of all the ways people waste time. Then put a tick next to the ones you do. Chances are every day you will do some of these. Use this list to check against your time log. If you don't see any, you are probably lying to yourself. We all waste time at some point. If your time log has no time wasters in it, you are editing them out. That day is therefore not useable. 
4. Get feedback. Ask a trusted colleague you have frequent contact with to check your time log at the end of the day. Do they think it is accurate? If they laugh, you know you are kidding yourself!
5. Do a light version. If you feel that you are on your best behaviour while completing the time log, try instead focussing only on low value activities. After each low value activity record how long you spent on it. At the end of the week add it up. My guess is you'll be shocked!
6. Do a short version. Rather than trying to record the whole week, just do a time log for one morning. It is better to have a good 3 or 4 hours logged accurately than a week of approximations. Repeat a few times at different periods to get a full picture. 

These small changes should make your time log easier to complete and more accurate. With a good time log, you can then see how you use your time and where improvements could be made.

How would you make time logs better?