What 20 Years Managing Software Teams Taught Me About: Maximizing Billable Hours - 7 Tips

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Intro

Over the past 20 years, I’ve managed software teams in service organizations of all sizes — from small dev shops to multi-team agencies. One lesson became crystal clear: billable hours are the lifeblood of a service company, and even small leaks can quietly eat into profitability.

I wrote this article for two reasons:

• To share some of the tips and lessons I’ve learned over the years about maximizing billable hours — practical strategies you can apply in your teams today.

• To mention one of the many potential solutions in Jira that can complement your strategies for tracking time, managing budgets, and ensuring profitability. And yes it was build by our team, but we are super proud that it was build with all of the below in mind :) 

1. Developers (and other roles) don’t care about billable hours

And that’s completely normal — they shouldn’t have to. But as leaders, it’s our job to make sure the team understands that billable hours are what pay everyone’s salaries.
The key is not guilt-tripping, but educating: every hour logged to a client project keeps the business sustainable. The more visibility your team has into how time translates into revenue, the more ownership they take in tracking it correctly.

2. Accurate estimations are crucial — especially for fixed-price projects

Fixed-price projects are always a risk. A small misjudgment early on can turn into dozens of unbillable hours later.
The best teams break down work into smaller pieces, estimate collaboratively, and track progress against those estimates inside Jira. That helps you spot overruns early, before you start losing profit.

3. Time & Material doesn’t mean “bill everything”

Even in time-and-material projects, clients don’t automatically accept every hour you record.
You still need transparency — clearly describing what each chunk of time delivered and ensuring that what’s billed adds visible value. A healthy T&M project still needs boundaries.

4. Not tracking missing hours will eat you alive

If your team consistently logs time only at the end of the week (or worse — at the end of the month), you’ve already lost control.
You need a system of reminders or automation that ensures time is logged daily. Missing even a few hours here and there quickly compounds into thousands of unbilled euros (or dollars) by the end of the year.

5. Not every worked hour is billable — and that’s okay

Clients notice when you try to squeeze every minute into “billable.” Be honest.
There will always be hours spent in context switching, internal coordination, or rework that can’t be billed. The goal isn’t to bill 100% — it’s to make sure the right hours are billable, and that your reporting helps you see where the rest are going.

6. Keep your client in the loop — transparency builds trust

Silence kills relationships faster than mistakes.
Share demos, progress reports, and budget updates regularly. Don’t wait for the client to ask.
If you see the budget getting tight, raise the flag early — it’s not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of professionalism. Most clients appreciate honesty and partnership far more than a surprise invoice later.

7. Track billable utilization weekly

You can’t fix what you don’t measure.
Make it a habit to review team utilization every week — see who’s billable, who’s on the bench, and who might need a change of project or extra support.
It’s uncomfortable at first, but these are the conversations that keep the company healthy. A steady rhythm of review and adjustment ensures your team stays efficient without burning out.

Final Thoughts

There are many great tools inside Jira that can support you in managing billable time, budgets, and utilization more effectively.
Over the years, my team and I built one of them — Worklog360 — as part of our effort to make these daily challenges easier for service companies.
Whether you use ours or another solution, the goal is the same: to create a culture of transparency, accuracy, and accountability around time — because that’s what keeps both clients and teams happy.