1. Make time tracking a priority for EVERYONE
You must make everyone in your practice aware of the importance of time tracking and explain why – it helps the firm make money, allocate tasks properly, plan ahead thoroughly and make everyone’s job easier by assigning the right resources to each case.
2. Put the right resources in place
We touched on this in point one but it’s important enough for it’s own point: Make sure resources and tasks are defined and assigned properly so that all the stakeholders, from lawyers to clients, understand what they have to do.
3. Recognise the work behind the time
The same task might take some people longer to complete than others so remember who is doing what rather than looking at just the figures. If a pattern emerges, use that information when planning your next case and assign tasks to people who have strengths in particular areas.
4. Put your team at ease
Remind everyone that time tracking is not for evaluation – they won’t be replaced if their time logs look poorer than someone else’s. Remember, your staff will assume that time tracking is used to measure their performance and it is your responsibility to fully convince them that time tracking is purely for reporting, analytics, planning and billing.
5. Get your facts straight
The information you capture is important for management reports but you should also use it to compare real times taken against estimated times so that you can more accurately plan future cases.