5 mistakes (software/service) agencies make when tracking time and managing clients

[#1]

Time tracking seems simple — log hours, invoice clients, move on.
But for agencies, the small mistakes add up fast: projects go over budget, people get burned out, and profits vanish.

Here are 5 common mistakes agencies make — and how to avoid them.

1️⃣ Assuming everyone logs time consistently

Many (software/service) agencies hope their team tracks every hour, but hope is not a process.

• Missed time = hidden costs

• Untracked tasks = inaccurate project insights

Actionable Tip:

send reminders every Monday morning to ask people to log their time

---

2️⃣ Ignoring non-billable work

Internal meetings, admin, revisions — it all adds up.

• Overlooking non-billable hours inflates project cost unknowingly

• Keep an eye on where time is really spent

Actionable Tip :

Remind people that billable hours are the revenue drivers for your organizations and salaries depends on them directly

---

3️⃣ Waiting until the end of the project to check budgets

• Catching overages too late = lost profit

• Track hours vs budget in real-time

• Early warnings allow smarter decisions and conversations with clients

Actionable Tips :

Make it a habit to check your project’s budget burn rate every Tuesday.

• Estimate it either by looking at the weekly historical burn rate, or by planning how many FTEs will work each week until the project ends.

• Don’t be afraid to communicate with the client if, at the current burn rate, adjustments to the remaining work are necessary.

• They might not love hearing it — but they will appreciate the transparency.

---

4️⃣ Manual invoicing and reporting

• Copy-pasting hours into spreadsheets wastes hours every month

• Mistakes = unhappy clients and delayed payments

• Automation ensures accuracy and frees your team to focus on real work

---

5️⃣ Not analyzing the data

• Logging time is useless if you don’t review it

• Ask: Which clients or project types consume the most resources?

• Adjust your rates, processes, or staffing based on insights

Our goal with Worklog360 for Jira isn’t to eliminate these challenges entirely, but to reduce them to a manageable, predictable level so agencies can focus on delivering great work.

Which of these mistakes is your team guilty of — and what’s the first step you’d take to fix it?