Does time tracking makes you anxious? I just had a small project for a fixed price(no time tracking) and I felt so much less anxiety while working. This one ticking clock makes my work so much stressful.

It should make you feel empowered.

Track EVERYTHING.

Customer wants to change xyz? Put time and note about it.

Make sure you call out the extra time you now need to spend on those changes too.

"Added time in regards to customer requested xyz change on dd/mm."

Be thorough and pointed on your notes. To allow anyone familiar with the project to read and comprehend what took place.

Time tracking was mandatory at one of my previous employers. I provided so much detail as to what I was doing it broke their reporting mechanisms.

It also showed that I was working an additional 20 hours extra per week.

When they told me I no longer needed to track my time I simply said, "Thanks, but I'll continue tracking my time to provide a better work/life balance. I didn't realize I was working 60 hours a week before this, you've been very insightful."

When it comes to management I give them what they want, exactly what they want, and shove it down their fucking throats.

Fuck em.

@sariel i'd like to tag this comment as a favorite xD

If I know you don't track time for a fixed price, I will make sure you spend more time for that price.

Just define in detail the scope of the fixed price. Any work outside of it, you should charge for the time. So yes, you need to track time.

@sariel > "It should make you feel empowered. Track EVERYTHING."

Under previous administrations, the yearly performance reviews were extremely stressful for most everyone because the interrogation (that's what it was) consisted of justifying your existence and why they shouldn't fire you. I walked in with a detailed report showing 120% over the required time logged. Even random 15 minute convos discussing some random news event. If it took my time, I logged it.

The boss *hated* it. Would tell me he didn't need all that...just the projects I worked on (I should be like the rest of the devs).

I would say "Only being honest about my time. I didn't work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week on project Y. Meetings, system alerts, company events, and random distractions all take time away from getting things done. You wouldn't want me to lie...would you?"

Ohhh boy did that piss him off.

Does it make me weird that I looked forward to the yearly reviews? :)

@PaperTrail not at all.

I love finding ways to hang them with the rope they wanted to hang me with.

@soull00t Oh my god I hate that time meter, I used to work for a company that set lunch time to 15 minutes and when the time was up the meter would turn red and make a sound....oh, that sound gives me nightmares

@jacquelynnorris wtf that sounds like it's from a dystopian novel 😅 in which country to you live?

@soull00t so I worked in the UK, now I'm done with it, thank god