Accurate Project Time Tracking?

Uhh-I-think-I'll-stay-anonymous-this-once asks: "I'm really rubbish at tracking the time I spend on things. That's bad for me, because I bill clients by the hour and almost always have to under-bill. I've tried a few bits of software for tracking, but none of them have suited me. What do you use? And why do you like it? If you've got suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I can't give a spec of what I want, but I can describe my habits and hardware. I use several computers, sometimes I don't use my own. I've got a short attention span when I'm not programming, and hop from task to task like an insane jack-rabbit. I'm not always on my network. I've got a couple of servers that could be used to run a web-based system. Mining my e-mail is often a good way of finding out what I've been working on. I'm rubbish at adhering to routines. I like OSS, but it's not an absolute-must-have. I'm comfortable with both Linux and Windows, but spend most my client life in Windows."

Comments

Ultra-low tech solution

[toddbu]

I don't know how much you're underbilling by, but if it's any large amount then you might want to hire some help. Let's say you're underbilling just 5 hours per week and you bill at $100/hr. That's $2K/month. For that kind of money, you can easily hire a secretary to help you record your time. You'll get the added benefit of someone to do the actual billing (so that you can work more), and get other things done as well (filing, messages, answering phones, collecting on deadbeat accounts, running errands, etc.) It's well worth the cash to have someone around to help.