Time tracking in agile projects is a hot topic that divides minds. Agile evangelists can argue that tracking time in agile projects, mainly when referring to the Scrum principles, is necessary, especially since the remaining work in the product backlog is a variable of interest rather than time.
So, how do we budget and plan for the next billing cycle if time tracking is anti-agile?
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On one side of the spectrum, you have project managers who favor time tracking and firmly believe in the saying, “you can’t manage what you can’t measure.”
While on the other side of the spectrum, you have agile evangelists who find it unnecessary, or even arguing it’s against the agile mindset.
This leads us to the question: Should time tracking be prioritized in highly agile environments? Let’s leave personal opinions aside and look at objective reasons to think about this question, and might help find an answer.
The use of the agile approach for software development is to simplify the process. However, when the process is not managed well, it will overcomplicate the billing. For this reason, an adequate time-tracking tool will guarantee accurate billing, especially when working on an hourly rated project. You can easily pull hours spent per person and issue a detailed invoice with the right tools.
Time estimation helps software development teams to learn from past sprints and projects. Once an agile team gets into the habit of time tracking, the project, or product manager can start gathering data about the time needed for specific tasks to get completed. These valuable insights can be used for future estimates and better planning of upcoming projects.
Time-tracking tools help users analyze the hours spent on projects and other activities. One of the best things about tracking time is that it gives managers an overview of where time is spent and a better vision of how productive their teams are on different projects. This, in turn, provides insight into resource allocation and ultimately increases work productivity.
One of the 12 principles of agile project management is “At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.”
The key benefit of the agile approach is the ability to adjust and improve swiftly. Data-based decisions assist agile teams in making faster decisions, and as such, time tracking and resource management tools can provide agile teams with the data they need to improve the process.
We already know that the current market conditions are more challenging and demanding. This situation calls for more agility from business organizations. Specialized Time tracking and time management tools are the best to optimize continuous productivity, especially when using project management tools such as Jira.
Agile or not agile – that is no longer the question after this review. Of course, when implementing time tracking, you need to make sure that your agile processes are not interfered with. But basically, agile and time tracking go very well together. Especially with the right tools, time tracking and better resource planning can contribute significantly to the success of your agile team. Therefore, time tracking should be a high priority in agile environments.
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