Work log

We’ve all been there: staring at the clock at the end of our workday, wondering where the time went and what we accomplished. Between meetings, ad hoc requests, and busywork, it’s easy to lose track of time. Understanding where your time is spent—wisely or not—is the first step to 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’s causing your lost time, it can be pretty hard to find a solution. That’s where work logs come in. 

A work log is a record of all your completed tasks, including how long you took to complete them. Work logs are arranged chronologically by time block, allowing you to quickly visualize the amount of time spent on your to-dos, from meetings to focus time. By providing you with visibility into where your time is spent, work logs help you reclaim your day, allowing you to work more effectively. 

What is a work log template?

A work log template (also known as a time log template) is a templatized way to track how you’re spending your work hours. You can pre-build work log templates with custom tags that describe your work, like if a task is billable or non-billable, the task priority, the task status, and more. 

Best of all, work log templates are duplicatable, meaning once you’ve built your first template, you can use it over and over. Simply log in and get to work. 

Benefits of a digital work log

Sure, you could keep track of your time with a worksheet, a printable timesheet, or an Excel sheet. It’s old-school, but it’s not effective. Printable time logs are limited to a pre-created format and often don’t account for how you work. Excel templates are a little more functional, but they lack flexibility and are less customizable. Plus, do you really need another Excel spreadsheet in your life? 

Digital work logs, in contrast, are customizable, dynamic, and duplicatable. 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 lose more time by choosing a work log that works against you. Using a digital work log in a project management tool allows you to: 

• Keep track of how you're spending your time each day 

• Identify areas where you’re losing time—and find ways to improve

• Reduce work about work

• Kickstart your productivity and efficiency

• Weed out time wasters and low-value tasks

• Pinpoint areas where you’re spending too much time

• Bill your hours accurately 

• Increase project efficiency

• Refine your workflows 

How to create your digital work log template

Now that you know what a digital work log template is and why you should use one, let’s dig into how you can set up your work log template to maximize productivity. 

1. Start by adding all your tasks for the day at the top of your work log. 

First, create a section with everything you plan to get done that day, such as upcoming meetings, small tasks to knock out, and big to-dos you have to get done. To better prioritize your work, add tags for priority, billing type, status, and effort. 

2. Create a “completed tasks” section with time blocks for the day.

The “completed tasks” section is where you’ll keep track of your to-dos as you work on and complete them. It’ll start as a blank section and fill up throughout the day. Include time blocks, the time slots during which you complete tasks and accomplish work, in this section. We recommend breaking your day into one-hour or half-hour blocks and adjusting as you go.

3. Log your activities and tasks as you complete them.

As you complete the tasks in your daily to-dos section, log the task, including how long it took, in the completed tasks section of your work log. For example, if you start your day checking emails from 8am–9am, log “reviewed emails” in your completed tasks section in the 8am–9am time block. Don’t worry if your time spent doesn’t exactly match the time blocks you set up—simply adjust as you work.

4. Track your personal time. 

Don’t forget to log activities that aren’t part of your daily work tasks, such as lunch, long coffee breaks, or personal appointments. There’s nothing wrong with decompressing after a long stretch of focus time, and logging these breaks will give you a more accurate idea of how you’re spending your day.

5. Review your completed (or incomplete) tasks. 

Before you sign off for the day, look at what you’ve completed and what—if anything—has fallen behind schedule. If you have incomplete tasks in your daily to-dos section, jot down why you may not have had time to get to them. Did you have unexpected tasks or meetings pop up? Did an assignment take longer than you thought it would (and if so, what caused the time difference)? When or why did you feel blocked? The answers to these questions will help paint a clearer picture when it comes time to review your work log.

6. Analyze your performance and brainstorm ways to improve.

Finally, set a cadence to review your completed work logs, like 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 each day checking and responding to emails? Do you procrastinate on certain tasks? Use your findings to brainstorm ways to improve, such as:

• Eliminating or automating unimportant tasks

• Delegating time wasters

• Using time management techniques to focus on—and accomplish—your most important work 

What to include in your digital work log template

There’s more to time logging than simply keeping track of how long your tasks took. A work log template can help you understand where and why your time is being lost and give you insights into how you can better manage your work. To create an effective work log template, add custom fields that give context into your work and provide an at-a-glance overview of how you’re spending your time, including:

• Your activities and daily tasks

• Time blocks 

• Task billing type

• Task priority

• Time each task took 

Integrated features

• Workload. Workload gives you a visual snapshot of team capacity by making it easy to see what your team members are working on across projects—all in one place. With this at-a-glance information, you can pinpoint 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 underworked. If they are, you can easily reassign or reschedule low-priority tasks to unblock high-priority initiatives.

• Dashboards. Dashboards are project-level tabs containing graphs and visualizations that let you zoom out from the day to day to quickly understand your project’s progress. Customize Dashboard charts so you can instantly identify potential blockers in your team’s work and subsequently move the project forward. Use the Dashboard tab as a reference point to find data to get a quick pulse on how the project is progressing.

• Custom fields. Custom fields are the best way to tag, sort, and filter 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 to-dos so you know what to work on first. Plus, share custom fields across tasks and projects to ensure consistency across your organization.

• List View. List View is a grid-style view that makes it easy to see all of your project’s information at a glance. Like a to-do list or a spreadsheet, List View displays all of your tasks at once so you can not only see task titles and due dates, but also view any relevant custom fields like Priority, Status, or more. Unlock effortless collaboration by giving your entire team visibility into who’s doing what by when.

Recommended apps 

• Clockwise. With the Clockwise + Asana integration, you can add Asana tasks as time blocks in your Google Calendar. The Clockwise + Asana integration allows you to specify the duration of tasks, when they happen, and whether Clockwise can automatically reschedule them. Add tasks to your calendar and make time to get work done.

• Google Workplace. Attach files directly to tasks in Asana with the Google Workplace file chooser, which is built into the Asana task pane. Easily attach any My Drive file with just a few clicks.

• Dropbox. Attach files directly to tasks in Asana with the Dropbox file chooser, which is built into the Asana task pane.

• Box. Attach files directly to tasks in Asana with the Box file picker, which is built into the Asana task pane.

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