Not redesigning the timesheet

TL;DR: I made a tool to help with timesheets. Let me know what you think.

For as long as I've been in the service industry, one of the most universally detested tools that me and my colleagues have been using has been the tool used to capture worked time. Getting employees to fill their timesheet accurately and in a timely manner has been a constant struggle for my company. Sometimes, we use the carrot, sometimes we use the stick, but nothing ever seems to work.

It doesn't help that the timesheet tools that we've been using have always had pretty bad user experiences. They are usually large, slow, and they force the user into a workflow that seems completely unnatural. The tool of choice right now for our company is SAP Business ByDesign which is a particularly horrible example for timesheet software. A lot of people at the office are keeping a document on the side to take notes about their work. Only going into ByD once a week to transcribe their notes, hoping that it won't crash and that they'll only have to do it once.

Why don't you use toggl (or Klok, etc...) #

Each time I mention timesheets at work, someone unavoidably asks me “Why don't you use that other tool there?”.

There are a large number of alternative solutions for time tracking. A lot of these solutions are even free. So, why wouldn't we use one of those if ByD is so horrible. From a company standpoint, the answer is simple. It's already been 2 years since the integration of ByD in all the corporate systems has started and it is still ongoing. That train has left the station and it is not coming back.

So we are back to individual decisions to use something else out there to take notes and going in once in a while to transcribe our notes in ByD.

You're a designer, why don't you design a better timesheet? #

OK, that's something else I heard a lot when I was complaining about the timesheet. 3 years ago, I decided to spend a few days on that problem. I did user interview, and collected feedback, examined the workaround that other employees used to deal with their timesheet.

Here's the bullet-form result of that research:

What the user needs:

  • It needs to be fast
  • It needs to allow quick note-taking as I work
  • It needs to do the math for me
  • It needs to keep me informed about how my day/week is going in terms of worked hours
  • It needs to acknowledge the fact that I often do the same thing day after day

What the company needs:

  • Worked time needs to be submitted on time (the invoicing workflow starts with the data in the timesheet)
  • Worked time needs to be separated by project (for invoices)
  • Worked time needs to have descriptive notes attached (for invoice justification and tax credits)

I presented my findings and a preliminary design to the company. Hoping that someone with the right programming skills would pick-up the design and push the project further.

That didn't work so well so I decided to take matters into my own hands.I googled to figure-out what the new hotness was for web development and I got to work.

So I didn't design a timesheet #

timeLog Screenshot

So, it seems that the solution didn't reside in building a better timesheet. Other people have already solved that problem. I'm thinking that instead, I was going to build a time-aware log book.

So, here are my design intents:

  • Focus on note-taking instead of time-tracking
  • Optimize speed of note-taking
  • No math required
  • Acknowledge that tracked items repeat from day-to-day/ week-to-week
  • Make it easy to feed data back into ByD

So, after spending 2 weekends working on the app and dogfooding it for one week, I'm ready to unleash it on the world.

You can try it at: http://timelog.francisbeaudet.com

All you need is a Google login and you're good to go.

It is still a little rough around the edges. However, I'm pretty happy with the results. It works well on mobile browsers and on the desktop. Used it to fill my timesheet this week and I did it without a backup note-taking method.

What is next for the Time Log? #

Hopefully, a few people at the office will choose to try the application and give me some good feedback to improve it. I certainly plan to keep on using the application every day and improve it as I keep stumbling on its limitations.

I don't want to stuff that thing full of features but there's a couple of things that I would like to eventually get done if I get the chance:

  • I would love to find an API that I can use to automatically push the data from the time log into ByD. I'm still looking but I can't find anything.
  • I want the app to remember notes that I have already typed in the recent past for a given projet and help me with the typing as I fill my notes.
  • I think I'll try to integrate with my google calendar and allow to automatically slide-in my meetings into the time log.

If you try it or if you have any thoughts, I'd like to hear from you.