Time tracking is not surveillance
When outsourcing teams mention time tracking, developers hear 'someone's checking up on us.' Once it feels like surveillance, the data is useless. People fill in eight hours, but projects still slip.
The point of time tracking is simple: know project costs and see real capacity. So don't just log 'project hours.' Break them down:
| Category | Examples | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Requirements & communication | Client calls, clarification, docs | Communication cost |
| Development | Coding, self-testing, code review | Core output |
| Testing & rework | Bug fixes, regression | Quality cost |
| Support & internal | Pre-sales, training, env maintenance | Non-project load |
Log by day or by task, not by minute. Two minutes before you leave is enough. Common mistake: only tracking billable hours. Internal cost disappears, and quotes come out too low. Or the PM fills in timesheets for everyone. Then the data is all 'about right' and useless for review.
Capacity is not headcount
Five developers at 40 hours a week gives 200 nominal hours. Real capacity is lower. Meetings, code reviews, client support, production issues, vacation—all of it eats time. A better formula:
Available capacity = headcount × effective weekly hours × (1 - non-project time share) - planned leave
Example: a five-person team, 40 hours a week, 20% spent on meetings and support. Real project capacity is about 160 hours a week. If someone takes two days off, subtract 16 more. Schedule against 160, not 200.
Calibrate that percentage with four to six weeks of actual time logs. Every team is different. Some communicate more, some rework more. Don't guess.
Leave a buffer
Outsourcing projects change. Clients add requirements, tweak workflows, ask for urgent releases. Leave 15% to 20% buffer in every schedule. Booking everyone to 100% assumes nothing will go wrong. That's not how projects work.
Practical step: before each iteration, spend half an hour reviewing last week's actual hours. If someone lost two days to client support, plan two days less this week. At the end of the iteration, check which tasks went over and why. Next estimate gets better.
Common pitfall: sales promises a deadline based on ideal capacity. Delivery finds out too late. Or the PM runs three projects in parallel with the same person. Context switching is real, and it rarely shows up in the plan.
Use time data for quotes and reviews
Time tracking isn't for attendance. When a project ends, look at the mix: how much went to requirements, rework, testing. Add those costs into your next quote. Outsourcing margins are thin. Guessing is expensive.
Also separate billable and internal cost hours. Contract says 100 hours, team spent 120. Those 20 hours are internal cost. You need to know where they went.
Tooling: light input, automatic rollup
If your team still tracks hours in Excel, weekly rollup takes half a day and still has errors. In Stepwise, hours are logged against projects and tasks, and the capacity view uses each member's available time. You can see overload before you commit. No extra spreadsheets, no chasing people to fill in.
If your team hasn't started capacity reviews, begin with a 30-minute weekly hour review. Stepwise's time tracking and iteration planning work together, so you don't have to export data back and forth.
