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Time Tracking
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Time Tracker for Product Managers

Product managers face significant time wastage from unproductive meetings and time theft. Harvest provides the solution with its seamless integration and detailed reporting to enhance productivity.

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How much revenue is your team leaving on the table?

Most agencies run at 55-60% utilization. Even a small improvement means significant revenue. See what closing the gap looks like for your team.

Number of people who track billable time
$
Blended rate across roles (junior, senior, lead)
55%
Percentage of total hours that are billable. Industry average is 55-60%.
75%
A realistic target for service businesses is 70-80%.
Monthly revenue gap $0
Revenue at current utilization $0/mo
Revenue at target utilization $0/mo
Extra billable hours needed per person/day 0h
Annual revenue opportunity $0

Start tracking team utilization

Walk through the entire flow below. Start a timer, check your reports, and create a real invoice — all in three clicks.

Go ahead — start tracking!

One click and you're timing. Try it right here: start a timer, add an entry, edit the details. This is exactly how it feels in Harvest.

  • One-click timer from browser, desktop & mobile
  • Works inside Jira, Asana, Trello, GitHub & 50+ tools
  • Duration or start/end — your call
  • Day, week & calendar views to stay on top of it all
  • Friendly reminders so no hour gets left behind
Acme Corp
Website Redesign
Homepage layout revisions
1:24:09
Content Strategy
Blog calendar planning
1:30:00
SEO Audit
Technical audit report
0:45:00
Brand Guidelines
Color system documentation
2:15:00
Logo Concepts
Initial sketches round 1
1:00:00
Today's total 6:54:09

The Strategic Imperative: Why Product Managers Need Time Tracking

Time tracking is essential for product managers aiming to enhance productivity and optimize resource allocation. Accurate tracking provides insights into how time is spent across projects and tasks, allowing managers to identify inefficiencies that can cost businesses significantly. For example, time theft impacts 75% of U.S. businesses annually, leading to losses of approximately $50 billion. For a small team, this could translate to a loss of over $3,900 per year due to untracked time. By implementing effective time tracking, product managers can minimize these losses and enhance project outcomes.

Moreover, time tracking fosters transparency and accountability within teams, encouraging individuals to stay focused and reduce distractions. This is particularly crucial in environments where 67% of professionals cite unproductive meetings as their biggest time-waster. By leveraging tools like Harvest, product managers can ensure that every minute is accounted for, improving not only individual contributions but also overall team efficiency.

Essential Features of a Product Manager's Time Tracker

When selecting a time tracker, product managers should prioritize features that support their unique workflow needs. Essential functionalities include accurate time logging with both manual and automatic options, and the ability to edit entries for precise records. Harvest excels in this area with its one-click start/stop timers and manual time entry.

Detailed reporting is another critical feature, allowing managers to analyze task durations and team contributions. Harvest offers comprehensive reports that track time spent on specific tasks or project phases, enabling data-driven decisions. Integration capabilities with tools like Asana and Jira enhance workflow efficiency, making Harvest a seamless addition to existing project management ecosystems. Accessibility across web, mobile, and desktop platforms ensures that time tracking is convenient and consistent.

Integrating Time Tracking into Your Product Workflow: Best Practices

Integrating time tracking into product management workflows requires a strategic approach. Start by selecting a tool like Harvest that offers easy integration with your current project management software, reducing the learning curve for your team. Emphasize the benefits of time tracking as a strategic tool rather than a monitoring mechanism to overcome resistance and foster a culture of trust.

To ensure consistent usage, establish clear categories for projects and tasks, and leverage automation features such as those offered by Harvest, which can log time entries from calendar events. Engage your team in regular audits of time entries to maintain accuracy and use the data to inform project planning and resource allocation. By connecting time data to strategic outcomes, product managers can prevent burnout and improve project forecasting.

Free and Scalable Options for Product Teams

For product teams exploring time tracking solutions, scalability and cost-effectiveness are key considerations. While there are free options available, such as tools that offer basic functionalities for small teams, they often come with limitations on users or integrations. Harvest, however, provides a compelling solution with its free 30-day trial, allowing teams to explore its robust features without upfront costs.

Harvest's scalability ensures that it can grow with your team, accommodating anywhere from five to 100 members without the need for a tool switch. This makes it an ideal choice for teams looking to expand while maintaining a unified approach to time tracking and project management. Evaluate the long-term value and capabilities that Harvest offers to ensure it meets both current and future needs.

Time Tracking for Product Managers with Harvest

Discover how Harvest integrates with tools like Jira and Trello to provide detailed time tracking and reporting for product managers.

Harvest time tracking interface for product managers

Time Tracker for Product Managers FAQs

  • Time tracking is crucial for product managers as it provides insights into how time is allocated across projects, helping to identify inefficiencies and improve resource management. Accurate tracking can prevent project overruns and enhance team productivity.

  • A time tracker for product managers should include accurate time logging, comprehensive reporting, integration with tools like Jira and Trello, and accessibility across devices. Harvest offers these features, making it a suitable choice.

  • Time tracking enhances team productivity by identifying inefficiencies, optimizing resource allocation, and fostering accountability. By using detailed reports, teams can strategize better project planning and workload management.

  • Yes, Harvest integrates with popular project management tools like Jira and Trello, allowing seamless time tracking within your existing workflow. This integration helps streamline project management and enhance productivity.

  • There are free options available, but they often come with limitations. Harvest offers a free 30-day trial, allowing product managers to explore its comprehensive features, including detailed reporting and integrations, without initial costs.

  • Common challenges include employee resistance to perceived micromanagement and the administrative burden of logging time. However, Harvest addresses these by offering intuitive features like one-click timers and calendar integrations to simplify tracking.

  • Yes, Harvest allows product managers to track both billable and non-billable hours, providing flexibility in how time is logged and reported. This capability is essential for accurate client billing and project profitability analysis.