Track Your Time

"If you track time, track ALL time at work. If you don't measure it, you'll have difficulty controlling it. Set up categories or clientless matters to capture each form of nonbillable time." -- Steven B. Levy, "Legal Project Management: Control Costs, Meet Schedules, Manage Risk, and Maintain Sanity"

It is a mixed bag of reactions when I come across someone preaching what I preach--duh! yes, thank you! see, I'm not crazy! preach it! and, my favorite, "maybe I should write a book about this."

I came across the above quote earlier this week as I come close to finishing the book it comes from.

This mirrors my persistent encouragement (coaching?) to other attorneys: track all of your time, all of it, truly, everything you do to move clients forward (billable), and to move your career, firm, and practice forward (not billable, but trackable).

It is the easiest way to check (analyze) how you use your time--use the data to recognize patterns (where is the time most valuably spent, where are you wasting time); use the data to advocate for yourself (to show all you're doing alongside billable work (and other metrics) to move forward); use the data to evaluate and reevaluate your goals, your rainmaking, and more.

Note: Mr. Levy follows this up with something I also recommend: "Even if you don't track hours, I recommend tracking everything you do for one week every three months. You'll be amazed at how much time you spend on tasks that add little value to the practice."

I'd add: "You'll be amazed at how much time you spend on tasks that a client might pay for but you don't know if they will because you're not tracking that time." Because, as Mr. Levy also says, "It is billable if the client says it is."

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