A quick release last night responds to some user requests. Specifically, 2.3.3:

-Changes the MyProjects view in MyPositiveWare from a table to a tree.
-Makes terminology for the actual timecard configurable.
-Remembers how you have the Project Manager tree opened and closed both when you navigate away from it and between sessions.
-Allows users to change all notification settings at once.

Release notes for this release will be integrated with those for our next release.

Before you gag on this pseudo New Age Title, realize that this is really about the contracting and permissioning functionality of PositiveWare. Recent gripes here and here about competitor software have pointed out the unusual power of the sub-contracting functionality that we released recently.

PositiveWare makes it possible for a services firm to permission in a contractor with as much or as little ability to see the rest of the firm’s data as you wish. You can restrict the contractor to making time entries, or you can allow them to flesh out their project plan. This flexibility makes it seem as if your contractors were part of your firm.

Similarly, PositiveWare makes it possible for a firm to permission in a Client to see as much or as little as they wish of the client’s project. Interestingly, while this used to be a frequently requested feature, not so many of our users actually take advantage of it.

A very competent writer gives a great explanation of the value of time tracking as a proxy for a financial measure in a balanced scorecard approach to managing a development business.

Financial: As high-level financial measures go, I have a pre-disposition to ROIC. It balances profitability with the investment costs required to generate it - and is a topic for another post. Most processes will not require this comprehensive of a measure, so simple cost tracking usually suffices. This can usually be further simplified to time tracking since development is largely made up of salary costs. Make sure you at least consider equipment and other capital and marketing costs before you settle in on time tracking as your financial measure. Normalizing financial tracking to earned value or planned spend helps to show tolerances of spend on a project (and display productivity with the financial measures.)

PositiveWare Release 2.2.0 introduces groundbreaking new subcontracting functionality to PositiveWare.

PositiveWare users can now engage with subcontractors through the PositiveWare system:

• Create subcontractor relationships within PositiveWare
• Assign Plans and Actions to subcontractors as if they were your employees

PositiveWare is now designed to facilitate the creation of relationships between PositiveWare users - without compromising each user’s independence or business confidentiality. This new functionality means that organizations can now manage a much wider range of projects and activities through their PositiveWare accounts.

You can now proactively invite subcontractors to work with you in PositiveWare, improving efficiency and simplifying subcontractor management.

See the video.
Read the release notes.

One of the great features of the timer we have built into PositiveWare is that it remains active regardless of what happens to the browser window in which it was originally opened (unlike the competition). That means that you can open PositiveWare, start a timer, navigate away from PositiveWare or close the browser and the timer is still going.

As a test of this functionality we have had one timer running continuously since we released the functionality back in August, 2006.

If you happen to leave the browser window up you can also add comments on the fly. And of course you can have an unlimited number of timers up. However, for ethical reasons we only allow one timer to run at any time.

For more information about PositiveWare timers read the manual.

A review of the book How To Measure Anything mentions time tracking…

He cites the example of a time tracking system, whereby the actual time to complete an IT project was not materially different from the estimated initial estimate, yet it was the largest measurement in the organization and “it literally added no value since it didn’t reduce uncertainty after all.

To which I commented

n the absence of time tracking the actual investment is not known, so I would argue that the uncertainty is vast, and almost identical to risk since there is little upside and tremendous downside on IT projects in particular. The idea that the estimate was the same as the actual is an outlier as far as IT projects go.

The value of a time tracking system is to create accountability for everyone in the value chain, from the person delivering the service to the project manager to the owner and on to the client. Without feedback from the time tracking system it is not possible to know if a budget is being adhered to. In the case of retainer based services this can lead to dramatic overservicing of the client with little benefit to the service provider.

Heisenberg applies to management as well. The act of measuring influences what is being measured. With better information at hand, processes can be refined, quality can be improved or at least traded against additional investment, and everyone benefits.