Every programmer/consultant has a bag of tools they use for their business. Some are devoted to the craft they are in, others are used to help the person focus on their craft. OfficeTime for Mac/iPhone is one of those tools I use to make sure I spend my time on programming and supporting my customers, not doing administrative tasks. Time billing is critical for the consulting parts of my business and having a good tool to track that time and bill it is critical. When I went looking for a time tracking tool for my business, I had two key criteria’s. First, it should be straight forward to use and be able to do it fast. Second, it had to have a mobile component (iPhone) so I could move to a paperless tracking system. OfficeTime had both. I really like their iPhone implementation. It allows me to enter my time into the system in a very short period of time and has a lot of capabilities to make sure my time tracking is comprehensive. I have become fully paperless using this system.
Side Note: Since it is easy to track in detail my activities for billing purposes, I have been using the system to analyze my personal productivity. The extra data I enter during the time entry process (which is a breeze) allows me to see how much time I am doing value added activities vs non-value added activities. Love it!
I use the Mac version for the review/billing of my time. It was easy to set up and customize for my business. The reports and invoices are very professional looking and allow me to include details that my clients appreciated. I highly recommend OfficeTime if you are looking for an easy to use and professional time tracking solution.
