Submitted by Tamararama on
in
Forums
I just discovered Manager Tools this year and have really enjoyed diving in. In my professional life so far I have generally felt a lack of training and mentorship.
A topic that gives me a lot of anxiety on a day-to-day basis is filling out my timesheet and worrying about billable hours and my utilization. It is also a topic that I haven't found any podcasts so far on Manager Tools.
As someone that struggles with staying focused what is a good percentage of the day that seems reasonable to be billable? For instance, a co-worker starts talking to me, next thing I know 30 minutes have gone by. And then I start being resentful to co-workers for taking up billable time. Checking email and going over my task list are not billable hours. Going over the email HOF has helped me streamline that a lot. Maybe I need to take a few minutes during the day to handle a personal issue. If I spend 30 minutes doing that, should I stay 30 minutes later? I struggle to not get lost in the minutiae.
If anyone has any advice, I would really appreciate it.
Some background info: I work in consulting, timesheets are due every 2 weeks, but I am salaried. The time sheets track our utilization and also help bill to the client for time and materials projects, although a lot of projects we work on are lump sum.