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This article briefly looks at what the market currently has to offer in the way of Personal Time Management software solutions for the service industry – be it a need for accurate time capture ready for billing, process improvement or just for the boss, who needs to see where his/her day goes.

If you have any questions regarding this article, I don’t’ bite, so be sure to email me and let me know your thoughts.

When I was first introduced to MetriQ I was, it has to be said, skeptical. Their claims of revolutionizing the way we work to capture time, are bold, brash, and plain in your face. So of course, being the daring intrepid journalist, I thought I’d take a gander for myself, and write this article in the process.

So here we go – be warned, the content of what you are about to read, is not for the faint hearted – even more so if you are an old laggard, who wouldn’t jump the technology gap if your life depended on it.

When you first open MetriQ, gone is the usual expectation of a regular timesheet interface. These guys are re-writing the book, so everything is different. You’d think this would be to their disadvantage, but no – because they’ve simply extended the metaphor you are used to using within Windows, notably Explorer, except not only can you manage your key business documents and applications, but you can also time. Having said that, the interface is clean and without clutter. Key administration functionality is by way of buttons at the top of the product, while the guts of the software are regular desktop icons that you double click to open the software/documents you wish to time – but I’m jumping ahead of myself here. So lets backtrack a little and start at the beginning.

First, they’ve objectified the record handling engine for the software. Now instead of entering new rows for each time entry in a spread sheet page or electronic journal, everything is made more visible by way of graphical icons representing the time collected by different software packages. Yep, you heard me, this software times not only your working schedule, but the software you use too. How you manage the time you’ve collected is more flexible also, as it can be cut & pasted to other icons as you would any other manageable asset.

And they’ve come up with these neat terms. It seems there are two types of timing mechanisms. There’s pre-emptive timing, whereby the person recording time selects the task to be worked on before starting work, which compares to its antonym, permissive timing, in which first the task is carried out, and only then does the user make a note of time for that task. To date MetriQ is the only software I or my colleagues have encountered that uses pre-emptive timing, and I have to say, it makes sense.

So how does it work? Well its really very simple. Your billable tasks have become containers for the software you will use to complete those tasks. For example, for my workout of this software I’ve got a simple two level structure – there’s the top most folder called Home Furniture and a sub-folder called Design Phase. MetriQ facilitates these into a hierarchy, which allows a user to quickly select a task they are about to work on. When the folder’s clicked, MetriQ displays all the software a user would need to complete the design phase. In my case I’d programmed the software to give me access to a couple of CAD packages a word processor and a browser. It was easy to add new software, with various techniques for speeding up the process or by using templates.

So there before me is my CAD package. I’m working on the design of a small chest of drawers for the bedroom, so I’d thought this would be a perfect excuse to test-drive MetriQ. I’d read the quick guide, and the training videos were a breeze, so let’s see if hands-free really is what they say.

I double click my CAD and MetriQ flawlessly opens my software for me. On the task bar I can see MetriQ has begun timing my work. We must be in pre-emptive mode because I selected the task before I’d opened the software. Neat, I’m starting to get this.

Even though I’m in the basement, my wife knows where I hide out. My private zone, away from the kids, where I can work in peace. The intercom buzzes me to pickup. Okay, now it’s time to try the iTime. This neat little feature allows me to quickly drop out of automated timing, back into manual, because a different task has called my attention. In this case it’s my wife telling me the food is on the table. As she talks to me I can see the manual timer ticking away while the rest of MetriQ waits for me to return to my drawing package. I tell my wife I’ll be up shortly, and hang up. Now then, I’ve been in manual mode, so the iTime screen asks me what I was doing. I select a new icon called Telephone, and add that to the same folder I’m currently working on. My icon list just got bigger, and if she phones again, the new time will simply be added to the telephone icon I’ve just created.

Well, I’ve fed well, and now its back to work. I’ll just finished off detailing the dowels for this side of the chest of drawers I’m designing, then I want to return to another favorite I’m currently working on, a toy pedal car for my neighbor’s son. I delight in the process from design to hand over, so I often find I’m working on more than one project at a time. To do this I first, select back into MetriQ, and navigate to another one of my folders called Toys. Again inside this folder is another sub-folder called Design Phase. As I move from the Furniture folder to the Toys folder, and then return to my CAD package, MetriQ seamlessly swaps all timing collected. Now as I work, all my time will be stored by the CAD icon on this new folder.

At the end of the night, I’m able to go to the reporting section. Here I’m given a wealth of information. Apparently I use my CAD package for 1 hour 23 while designing Furniture, and for 45 minutes designing Toys. My wife called six times and I have a total of 18 minutes and 43 seconds on the phone. I also spent 23 minutes playing with the dog, and 46 minutes eating dinner.

And there you have it. I’ve managed to record all the time I’ve spent working this evening, without really getting involved in the process. Okay, I’ve got to make a selection of what tasks I’m doing, which is always going to be the case. However, I would say the folder metaphor is very powerful, especially as you can drag/drop their order should the need arise. But once you’ve made the selection, all the rest is taken care of for you by the software. You no longer need to get involved with the timing process. You simply open the software you would ordinarily use, and away you go.

So is this software truly hands off? I think so.

About Me: I'm a freelance journalist who specializes in time management. Over the past 25 years I have worked in a variety of industries, and now focus on bringing the word how businesses can boot strap into the 21 Century, ditching their time sheets as they go, using products like MetriQ.

MetriQ - Personal Time Management Software