Time Tracker - 2 snapshot in 10 minutes and it will charge client 20 minutes of work

[hookjohny]

I have about 210 hours worked on upwork, but I noticed an interesting fact about Time Tracker.

Sometimes, Time Tracker is taking 1st snapshot at 3rd minute of work and this automatically give freelancer 10 minutes of work.
And then take 2nd screenshot at 8th minute of work and it give another 10 minutes of work.
So basically, freelancer didn’t work even 10 minutes but Time Tracker have counted in his account 20 minutes of work.

It will will charge customer 20 min. of work even freelancer will stop Time Tracker manager at 8th minute of work. But this could happen only when Time Tracker Manager did two screenshots.

This is not happening very often. But is still happening.

If the freelancer is not honest he can play with it sometimes and to earn a little money that he doesent deserve it.

[petra_r]

every hour is divided into 6 segments of 10 minutes each.

Each segment starts at X.X0 and lasts exactly 10 minutes.

So the hour between 10 and 11 am has the following 6 segments:

10.00 to 10.10

10.10 to 10.20

10.20 to 10.30

10.30 to 10.40

10.40 to 10.50

10.50 to 11.00

In each of those segments exactly one screenshot happens, so

Once between 10.00 and 10.10

Once between 10.10 and 10.20

Once between 10.20 and 10.30

Once between 10.30 and 10.40

Once between 10.40 and 10.50

Once between 10.50 and 11.00

Yes, it is possible that nearly 20 minutes pass between 2 screenshots (one at 10.20 and one at 10.39 for example), and it is possible that only one minute passes (one at 10.39 and one at 10.40). It is the segments with screenshots that count and not how many minutes pass between screenshots.

It all evens out over time.

[resultsassoc]

I have a solution that may not be available to you. I refuse to use Time Tracker, and make that explicit. It is so easy to bypass that anyone not smart enough to know how to do that isn't smart enough to work for me (I'm also a client). Second, I can only succeed with my clients in an atmosphere of mutual trust. Punching a time clock pollutes that environment. Only one prospective client, in a dozen years, demanded I use time tracking, so  I withdrew my response. The only time it cost me anything was in a job where I was ready to fire the client anyway.

[browersr]

---

@Bill H wrote:

I have a solution that may not be available to you. I refuse to use Time Tracker, and make that explicit. It is so easy to bypass that anyone not smart enough to know how to do that isn't smart enough to work for me (I'm also a client). Second, I can only succeed with my clients in an atmosphere of mutual trust. Punching a time clock pollutes that environment. Only one prospective client, in a dozen years, demanded I use time tracking, so  I withdrew my response. The only time it cost me anything was in a job where I was ready to fire the client anyway.

---

I disagree that using the time tracker "pollutes" the environment of trust. I suppose if you look at the time tracker as solely a tool for a client to track you out of lack of trust, then perhaps that is the conclusion you will draw. However, on the freelancer side I find it to be a way for me to manage billable working time in an unobtrusive automated way. Yes I could run a separate timer and manually enter the results. That would be fine; however, I have nothing to hide and saving a few steps to not only make invoicing easier but also to kick in payment protection, is something I see as a benefit of the tool. Additionally, we are working in an environment where there isn't a handshake and a face to face meeting. Both sides have a right to be wary and if using the time tracker helps clients get initial comfort, then that's awesome. Creating tools to lessen the barriers of doing business here is not something I consider a pollutant. 

As someone who has been a salaried person since college, I get the notion of tracking time to be somewhat offensive on the surface. But I think if you dig a little deeper in context with a global forum and the profession of a freelancer, you may see that this isn't exactly like punching a time card as if you were a teenager working at the local fast food joint.

Having said the above, and UW doesn't force you to work in that paradigm. You can use fixed bid or manual time entry. If that works, great! My only point is that I think the time tracker is a useful business enabler and not the harbinger of an untrusting poisonous relationship.