Six Timekeeping Tools That Won’t Drive You Insane

While watching the hours disappear on a Monday morning might seemingly take forever, when Friday afternoon rolls around, most of us can’t help but scratch our chins and wonder where the rest of the workweek went.

Every job has its own set of responsibilities. And while some responsibilities might carry more weight than others do—compare the million dollar client account to the $10,000 one, for example—at the end of the day, you’ve got to competently take care of all of them.

But as they say, time is money. As such, you can’t afford to spend more time on one project while neglecting another. Luckily, thanks to innovative technology, there’s a whole slew of timekeeping tools you can use to help you better tackle the tasks at hand.

Let’s take a look at six of them:

1. Harvest. Easy to use, Harvest allows users to keep track of the time they’ve spent on projects. The tool also gives users the ability to migrate across devices—from desktops to smartphones to tablets—without skipping a beat.

With Harvest’s intuitive interface, you’ll gain real-time insight into how certain projects are shaping up. You can then use that data to plan ahead, making sure you complete all projects on time and within budget.

In addition to simple timekeeping functionality, Harvest also gives you the ability to create and send invoices, accept payments and more. The company also prides itself on “legendary support” – you’ll speak to a human if you call their support line.

2. Freckle. Which of your employees will be able to manage the next client account best? Which clients are sucking up the most of your time? Are your team members being deployed effectively?

There’s no shortage to the amount of questions business owners can ask themselves when it comes to ensuring their organizations are operating efficiently. And that’s where Freckle enters the equation. The timekeeping tool was designed to help small teams increase their output by understanding exactly how effectively their time is being spent.

Keeping track of how much time your team is spending on various projects can be time consuming in and of itself. But it doesn’t have to be.

Freckle offers a free 30-day trial period, so why not give it a try?

3. Paymo. This cloud-based tool does much more than just keep track of the time you spend on tasks. It also gives you access to a full suite of project management tools. With Paymo, you can also easily create and send invoices.

Completely mobile, the tool gives you the ability to provide your clients with accurate timesheets. You can also see exactly how you’re divvying up your time.

Not happy with what that actually looks like? Not a problem: You can use that data to make appropriate adjustments to increase your productivity.

4. Toggl. Billing itself as the “insanely simple time tracking” app, Toggl claims to “kill timesheets.”

Toggl offers tiered price structures. It’s also as easy to use as possible: You just have to click a button keep track of how much time you’re spending on a task. The solution also offers day-planner functionality and allows you to construct unique time budgets for each project.

Did you forget to start tracking your time? Not a problem. Enter Toggl’s manual mode, and you’ll never miss a minute. On top of that, the tool offers comprehensive reporting functionality, so you can analyze your business’s workweek however you’d like.

5. Task Coach. An open source solution to your timekeeping needs, Task Coach is a tool that’s certain to help you get a better handle on your ever-increasing to-do list.

Because it’s open source, the desktop version is completely free. (The iOS app costs money because the staff has to pay to list it for sale in the Apple Store.)

The team of committed engineers that builds Task Coach offers free support via email. You can also easily report bugs, which highlights the beauty of open source tools: They are always works in progress that are improving.

6. Time Doctor A web-based time tracking and time management software that helps you get a lot more done each day. It includes time tracking, computer work session monitoring, reminders, screenshot recording, invoicing, reporting tools and integrations.

Time Doctor is a worthy choice for your time management needs. The integrations could help this tool fit smoothly into your existing workflow.

It can be hard to juggle all of the tasks you’re responsible for, particularly when that pile seems to get bigger and bigger by the day. But by deciding to make use of intuitive timekeeping tools, you’re certain to get a better handle over your workload—and your productivity will increase as a result.