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Discussion on: Is time tracking really necessary for a task management software?

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darksmile92 profile image
Robin Kretzschmar

I'd say it's not a deal breaker!
In fact I think it's quite useful to have time tracking and task management separated!

Here is a list of pro's and contra's I see for a combination and after it my point of view on things.

Here my summary of the points for a combination of time recording and task management and against:

Positive:

  • Fast recording of times due to the link to tasks.
  • Evaluation of tasks (estimation vs. consumption)
  • Statistics from the task

Negative:

  • Sometimes customers have access to the task management and may even see the recorded times unfiltered. Ideally, the customer will only see this on an invoice or a revised report.
  • Either a rule is introduced that times must always be linked to tasks (takes away the freedom) or there is no rule and the links are missing at places where they would be necessary (no time entry is always 100% accurate).

In my opinion, task management and time recording should be separate. On the one hand you are not dependent on one provider / service for both things, on the other hand the access rights are easier to manage.
If integrations are missing and needed, you can either create them yourself or solve them in another way. In addition, dedicated tools for recording times usually also offer the same functionalities for evaluations and invoicing. That is missing with most task management tools.