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Engineering director gets a mentor

Why does this engineering director consider changing careers?

Engineering is a hard discipline.  And this engineering director has hit a brick wall.

Enjoy the lighter side of project management!  🙂

This poor guy has hit a brick wall and has turned to an unlikely source for advice.  He learns that Standard Time® is his answer.  Even drug dealers knows that!  But if he can’t make it work, then maybe a change of profession is in his future.

Seriously… Standard Time is a pretty good engineering timesheet.  It’s built with engineering tasks and project tracking in mind.  Project managers can see their project status at a glance.  They see employee task assignments… resource allocation… and employee availability.  Need to find resources based on skill?  Or resources that can fill a certain role?  Easy.  That is why engineering groups prefer Standard Time.

Here’s a great engineering timesheet video.

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Customer Login and App

Customers can now see the status of their projects without bugging you! They just log-in to Standard Time® and get an update. Or use Android app called ProjectBot.

Customers want project status.  And they sometimes want it frequently… like every day!

Fortunately, there is a simple solution.  Standard Time has a simple client login page where your customers can log in to get their status.  All their projects are listed.  They can see how many hours were allocated, and how many hours were logged.  Simple.

Android ProjectBot

Plus, there’s even a simpler way.  There’s an Android app called ProjectBot that does the same thing.  Except that it does it automatically.  Every 15 minutes, ProjectBot syncs with the cloud and pulls down all the project information for that client.  The client can simply look at the app for the status.  That makes things pretty simple!

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Manager nearly loses his spine

This project manager went to the doctor for his annual checkup and nearly lost his spine!

Beware, Project Managers!

This can happen to you.  Go to the doctor with a headache from your over-budget project, and lose your spine.  Hope you enjoy the lighter side of project management.  🙂

What happens when your project is over budget by 12X?  You go to the doctor with a splitting headache.  Or what happens when all the employees are camping out on the easy tasks and ditching the crap?  Schedule your appointment.  The doctor will see you now!

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DCAA Timesheet Compliance

There is a timesheet specially made for the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA). It’s Standard Time®; it has everything you need for your project.

And just to go above an beyond… this timesheet has support for Option Year contracts and contract MOD’s.  What are they?  Well… if you don’t know, then you probably don’t need them!  Option Year contacts are a government thing.  Each year you get a new contract that specifies the scope of the projects.  It lists the manpower and rates the government will accept.  You assign actual employees and countersign the contract.  Then you own it.  ST supports that whole process.  But still… if you don’t use OY contacts, then it’s more than you need.

So maybe you just need a simple timesheet that is DCAA compliant.

ST has that too.

DCAA compliance is not hard.  There are some simple rules you must follow.  Do that, and you’re find.  The link below shows how ST complies with DCAA regulations.

http://www.stdtime.com/dcaa.htm

Want more information.  Try this DCAA compliance video.

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Zombie gets consulting gig

Even Zombies can get consulting gigs.  You just have to be smarter than the competition.  Check this out.

But when you do get that awesome consulting gig, use Standard Time to track your hours.  So many consultants use it that you’ll find plenty of support.  Plus, you’ll find every feature you need.  How about these apples?

  • Windows, Web, Android, and iOS apps
  • Billing rates for each project
  • Billing rates for each employee
  • Billing rates for each kind of work
  • And several other billing methods like roles, categories, or option year contracts

See http://www.stdtime.com to download a copy.

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Customize Client Invoices

Consultants can customize invoices sent out to their clients. Standard Time makes it easy.

Client invoice templates in ST are simple RTF documents you can open in MS Word.  That means you can customize them anyway you like.  Put in a company logo… add extra text… move things around… change fonts… anything you like!

Plus, you can create your own invoice templates to choose from.  Check out these videos.

http://www.stdtime.com/videos/customizinginvoices.htm

http://www.stdtime.com/videos/newinvoice.htm

 

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Project manager is so screwed

Is it time for this project manager to take a plane to Mexico or Cuba? No, he can redeem the project with Standard Time®.  Enjoy the lighter side of project management!

Did you like the cartoon?  Let us know.  Here’s how.  Subscribe to the ScoutwestInc YouTube channel, and then click thumbs up.

All kidding aside, any project can be resurrected from the dead.  But some are not so easy.  Some organizations have so much politics and infighting that their projects are doomed from the start.  Resurrecting a project in one of these organizations sometimes means changing the way people think.  That’s sometimes not so easy.  Everyone is right in their own eyes.  They can’t see the trouble they’ve made for themselves.  And the project manager doesn’t always have a clear vision, or even the means to inspire others to follow it.  Implementing a nice project tracker like ST doesn’t always do it.  You need a true visionary to pull projects out of the ditch.

So sure… it’s easy to poke fun at failing projects.  But not always so easy to resurrect them.  But why not try?  Put a good timesheet product in place, and see what happens!

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Consultant Billing Rates

Different consultants can use different clients billing rates.  For instance, a project manager can bill differently than an engineer.  Makes sense, huh?  This video makes it look simple.

Actually, it is simple.  Standard Time lets you assign unique project rates to each consultant.  And, those rates can vary by project.  Project A is not the same as Project B.  So the billing rates for each consultant can be unique.

This video may also help.  It describes exactly how to set up client billing rates for each consultant.

http://www.stdtime.com/videos/clientbilling.htm

How to verify client billing rates

You may also wonder how to verify that the rates are correct.  Of course, you can look at the invoice itself.  That’s the final check.  But the techniques below will also help.  They involve using the Time Log rate and cost columns to display the values you expect from each employee and project.

http://www.stdtime.com/videos/verifybillingrates.htm

Future billing rates

Consulting rates may be different in future years.  For instance, the year 2020 will likely have different rates than today.  That means you can set those rates for future years (if you know them).  Standard Time uses those future rates for project costing and revenue predictions.  Check out this video!

http://www.stdtime.com/videos/futurebillingrates.htm

 

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Blocks of Support Time

Many consultants sell blocks of support time to their clients. He/she could sell hours for supporting networks, etc. Watch this video for help managing this area of your business.

How blocks of support works

Your consulting firm has a relationship with many companies.  Some small, some big.  Anytime a consultant goes onsite for a job, ask the manager if they want to purchase a block of support time.  Offer some choices.  100 hours, 200 hours, 250, 500, 1000.  Anytime the client needs help, you jump in and fix things.  That’s because you have a contract for a set number of hours.

Watch another video here:

http://www.stdtime.com/videos/blocksoftime.htm

It’s just a project task

Blocks of support time show up in Standard Time® as project tasks.  You enter a name and the number of hours for the block of time.  Then assign it to a client and project.  That’s it.  It now shows up in your timesheet and on the smartphone apps.

Getting the software

Put the Standard Time app on your phone.  Android or iOS.  Each block of time shows up as a Quick Task.  Tap a checkbox to start the timer.  Tap again to stop.  You just charged some time to that block of support time.  Your phone will sync with the cloud or desktop.  The hours your logged will be charged against the block of time.  (It will appear as a task in ST.)

Selling new blocks of time

Standard Time will tell you when a block of time is nearly finished.  You simply approach the client with this information.  “Would you like to buy another block of time?”  The answer will be Yes!

When the client agrees, simply add a new task to ST to represent the new block.  The new task will sync with all your Android and iOS devices in the field.  Support engineers will see it and begin logging time to it.  And the whole process starts over!