Include your employees in the project planning

Often when the project manager plans a project, an estimated time budget on the tasks is made and employees are allocated with a certain number of hours. With the ETC function, the project manager can set TimeLog up to ask allocated employees to make ETC estimates according to the entered budget and enter the level of uncertainty.

To help the employees make certain ETC estimates, the project manager can describe each single task in the task description before sending out the ETC request. When the employees have estimated their tasks, the project leader can hold the estimates up against the budget and ask the system to automatically update the project plan with the employees’ ETC estimates.

This method is also called "bottom up" estimation which is a strong tool for dialogue and delegation of responsibility between project manager and project members.

When all discrepancies regarding the budget are clarified, the project manager may e.g. each week relate to the ETC estimates coming from the employees. This is a form of contract with the employees allowing them to develop skills in estimating time on tasks and give them more responsibility for their own work. Relating to the question ”How many hours do I still need to perform?" all the time creates consciousness about what tasks time is spent on. If an employee e.g. keeps asking for more time because the progress after 10 hours of work in fact only corresponds to 5 hours, it is one of the things you can take with you when planning the next project including time estimation.