We’ve all been there: looking at the clock at the end of our workday, wondering where the time went and what we accomplished. Between meetings, ad hoc requests, and heavy lifting, it’s easy to lose track of time. Understanding where you spend your time, wisely or not, is the first step in creating a productive workflow.
Say hello to work log templates.
What is a work log?
Losing track of time is a problem: it leads to missed deadlines and overwork. And if you don’t know what is causing the time loss, it can be quite difficult to find a solution. That’s where work logs come in.
A work log is a record of all your completed tasks, including the time it took you to complete them. Work logs are organized chronologically by block of time, giving you a quick view of the amount of time spent on your to-dos, from meetings to focus time. By giving you visibility into where your time is going, work logs help you take back your day so you can work effectively.
What is a work log template?
A work log template (also known as a time log template) is a template way of keeping track of How do you spend your working hours? You can pre-create worklog templates with custom labels that describe your work, such as whether a task is billable or non-billable, task priority, task status, and more.
Best of all, work log templates are duplicateable, which means once you’ve created your first template, you can use it over and over again. Just sign in and get to work.
Benefits of a Digital Work Log
Sure, you can track your time with a worksheet, printable timesheet, or Excel spreadsheet. It’s old school, but it’s not effective. Printable time logs are limited to a pre-created format and often don’t take into account how you work. Excel templates are a bit more functional, but they lack flexibility and are less customizable. Also, do you really need another Excel spreadsheet in your life?
Digital work records, by contrast, are customizable, dynamic, and duplicable. They give you at-a-glance visibility into how you’re spending your time with handy features like custom time blocks and color-coded priority status fields. Don’t waste any more time choosing a job record that works against you. Using a digital work log in a project management tool allows you to:
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Keep track of how you spend your time each day
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Identify areas where you are wasting time and find ways to improve
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Reduce work on work
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Kickstart your productivity and efficiency
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Eliminate time-wasting and low-value tasks
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Identify areas where you are spending too much time
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Bill your hours accurately
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Increase project efficiency
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Refine Your Workflows
Create Your Template
How to Create Your Digital Work Record Template
Now that If you know what a digital work record template is and why you should use one, let’s dive into how you can set up your work record template to maximize productivity.
1. Start by adding all of your tasks for the day to the top of your work log.
First, create a section with everything you plan to do that day, such as upcoming meetings, small tasks you need to finish, and big to-dos you need to get done. To better prioritize your work, add priority, billing type, status, and effort tags.
2. Create a “completed tasks” section with blocks of time for the day.
The “completed tasks” section is where you’ll keep track of your to-dos as you work on them and complete them. It will start out as a blank section and fill in throughout the day. Include time blocks, the time intervals during which you complete tasks and perform work, in this section. We recommend dividing your day into hourly or half-hour blocks and adjusting as you go.
3. Record your activities and tasks as you complete them.
As you complete tasks in your daily tasks section, record the task, including the time it took, in the completed tasks section of your log of work. For example, if you start your day checking emails from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. m. to 9 a.m. Please record “emails reviewed” in the completed tasks section in the 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. time block. m. to 9 a.m. m. Don’t worry if the time you spend doesn’t exactly match the time blocks you’ve set, just adjust them as you work.
4. Track your personal time.
Don’t forget to record activities that are not part of your daily work duties, such as lunch breaks, long coffee breaks, or personal appointments. There’s nothing wrong with decompressing after a long period of concentration, and recording these breaks will give you a better idea of how you’re spending your day.
5. Review your completed (or incomplete) tasks.
Before you sign off for the day, take a look at what you’ve completed and what, if anything, is late. If you have uncompleted tasks in your daily tasks section, write down why you may not have had time to get to them.Did you have unexpected tasks or pop-up meetings? Did a task take longer than you thought (and if so, what was the cause of the time difference)? When or why did you feel blocked? The answers to these questions will help give you a clearer picture when it comes time to review your work record.
6. Analyze your performance and brainstorm ways to improve.
Finally, set a cadence for reviewing your completed work logs, such as at the end of each week or month. Look for patterns and time sucks. For example, are you wasting time in long meetings? Do you spend hours every day checking and responding to emails? Do you procrastinate certain tasks? Use your findings to think of ways to improve, such as:
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Eliminate or automate unimportant tasks
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Delegate wasteful things time
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Use time management techniques to focus and get your most important work done
What to include in your template Digital Work Log
Time logging is much more than just keeping track of how long your tasks took. A work log template can help you understand where and why your time is wasted and give you insight into how you can better manage your work. To create an effective work log template, add custom fields that give context to your work and provide an at-a-glance overview of how you’re spending your time, including:
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Your daily activities and tasks
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Time blocks
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Task billing type
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Task priority
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Time each task took
Built-in functions
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Workload. Workload gives you a visual snapshot of team capacity by making it easy to see what your team members are working on across all projects, all in one place. With this information at a glance, you can identify conflicts, address risks, and keep projects on track by reassigning or rescheduling tasks. Check Workload regularly to make sure team members aren’t overwhelmed or out of work. If they are, you can easily reassign or reschedule low-priority tasks to unlock high-priority initiatives.
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Dashboards. Dashboards are project-level tabs that contain charts and visualizations that allow you to step away from the day-to-day to quickly understand the progress of your project. Customize Dashboard charts so you can instantly identify potential blockers in your team’s work and then move the project forward. Use the Dashboard tab as a reference point to find data to get a quick pulse on project progress.
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Custom fields. Custom fields are the best way to tag, sort, and filter your work. Create unique custom fields for any information you need to track, from priority and status to email or phone number. Use custom fields to sort and schedule your tasks so you know what to work on first. Plus, share custom fields between tasks and projects to ensure consistency across your organization.
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List view. List view is a grid-style view that makes it easy to see all of your project information at a glance. Just like a to-do list or spreadsheet, List View displays all your tasks at once so you can not only see task titles and due dates, but also see relevant custom fields like Priority, Status and more. Unlock effortless collaboration by giving your entire team visibility into who is doing what and when.
Recommended Apps
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In the clockwise direction. With the Clockwise + Asana integration, you can add Asana tasks as time blocks to your Google Calendar. The Clockwise + Asana integration lets you specify the duration of tasks, when they happen, and whether Clockwise can automatically reschedule them. Add tasks to your calendar and make time for work.
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Google Workplace. Attach files directly to tasks in Asana with the Google Workplace file picker, which is integrated into the Asana task pane. Easily attach any file from My Drive with a few clicks.
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Dropbox. Attach files directly to tasks in Asana with the Dropbox file picker, which is integrated into the Asana task pane.
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Box. Attach files directly to tasks in Asana with the Box file picker, which is integrated into the Asana task pane.
FAQ
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