Is it normal for senior business manager to be asked to fill timesheets?

In my case I work literally on many different aspect of the company and it is very hard for me to report how my time was spent on each aspect.

like
Posting as :
works at
You are currently posting as works at

You say you work on different areas, so to me it sounds like this is exactly why they’re asking. I had a job where I was asked to do this so we could get an idea of expenses per project/business unit. I did it every Friday with estimates for the % of time I spent on each one. My guess is you shouldn’t overthink it.

like

I wouldn’t work somewhere that required me to track and report my time lol

like

Depends on the company. At ours we need to be billable to clients for at least 80% every week. Grinds my gears

like

My current client thinks timesheets are the stupidest thing since bread on toast but we’ve all gotta do the song and dance. As a PM who’s focused on outcomes instead of outputs I couldn’t agree more

Honestly if as a manager you’re not comfortable with reporting your hours you should question your skill set as a manager. I know it may not be comfortable, but the reasoning behind it should be clear as ice

like

Time and money waits/cares for none. If it offends you this much, then get an EA to do it for you. One word, DELIGATE.

I’ve only had one PM position in my career, so I can only speak to my one experience, but I’d guess every company is different. Each quarter my PM group gives a rough estimate/prediction of our weekly allocation of time across all the products we touch. It is pretty high level- example: during Q1 I estimated 5%, 10%, 30%, 35%, 20% time allocation for this quarter across the 5 projects I lead depending on their product life cycle. Might be off by a little bit in reality, but I think ultimately as long as PMs feel comfortable reporting the reality of their loading to execs it can be a useful metric without adding an additional tedious hour to your week.

Personally, I think it is ridiculous. Is it abnormal? Not necessarily. It depends on the company but many require this.

I've done it before, and it got confusing fast. I'm assuming you might be working at an agency or something where clients are being billed? Otherwise, I'm not sure why it's needed

I’ve had to do timesheets before and I will say it was never accurate. It was an administrative task that was required, but not important. I typically filled it out as “close enough” and laughed that leadership thought it was accurate 😂😂😂😂

Depends on the policy or how they want to track the work (assumed vs actuals). We used to not and then they decided everyone top down would. I keep a tally in my calendar so it's an easy daily breakdown for me by end of week. It's also a bit tedious because they want you to hit a specific percentage capex vs opex which doesn't work in reality. 😔

Related Posts

Thought I was being really proactive by looking into freezing my eggs at 29. Did the initial testing and am floored by how poor my indicators are (amh = .7, etc). ☹️ anyone else find out like this? Completely didn’t expect it.

like

Dress shirt + underwear combo is the new business formal

Post Photo
likefunny

Recs for decently priced IV services for hangovers or general fatigue? Ones that come to you in nyc look insanely priced ($260+)

like

Queer 🐠 @ DU this week?

like

The Decision Analytics Associate Consultant JD states that 2-4 years of work ex is required, but an MBA/PhD can substitute in lieu of that.

So basically an MBA fresher is eligible for the job ?

A manager at ZS told me you're over qualified for Associate and under qualified for AC.

like

Do Google Cloud employees also get the famed 20% time (20% of your time spent on a side project or an innovation) benefit?

likesmart

I need 20 likes to unlock my DM. Please help.

like

Roughly how much of your time do you spend interacting with the community directly?

like

I’m interviewing with Amazon to be a Community Manager and I wanted to know what the interviewing experience has been like for other folks. How long was the process? And what was the salary range for a CM at Amazon?

I’ve been thinking about starting a blog for community managers. What topics would you like to see covered?

like

Getting bored while working - anyone wants to chat? 35M

like

Have opportunity for SRE and Devops. Remote company with good package. Do dm if interested.

like

For all you retail people...are you experiencing a very slow holiday season? I am a retail manager and I feel like this season has been freakishly slow. I thought we would at least match last year's number or be up a little bit but we are trending down. I talked to employees of other stores in the mall and they are saying the same thing. Is anyone else experiencing this in their market?

likeupliftinghelpfulsmart

Does anyone have any advice in what recruiters/hiring managers look for in graphic design portfolios. I’m getting a bit frustrated from the number of rejections I’ve been getting.

like

Hi Fishes,

YOE: 1.25. CTC is around 7.6 L. I joined TCS last year i.e. Oct 2020 as Digital profile. What can be my appraisal percentage and when I will be getting promotion if I stay in TCS

like

Hi everyone, I currently hold two offers . One from Quest Global and the other from Oracle Financial Services Software. (.Net Developer, YOE: 4.5 years) Which one out of these two would be a better company to join considering growth, learning and WLB.

Quest global services pvt. ltd.

Oracle

like

Has anybody read "The Goal" and "It's not Luck" and successfully applied the Theory of Constraints and Thinking Processes to create improvements internally or for your clients? What's your story?

Looking for a new social media role in Los Angeles. Open to agency or client side. 5+ years entertainment experience here.

Personal injury law firm looking to hire full time paralegal that understands NY files. Pre suit or litigation. Can work remotely.

like

Between consulting vs tech vs industry vs public sector, where would you pick to work in and why?

like

Additional Posts in Product Management

Finally made it to a PM final round and absolutely bombed it. F*ck me

likefunny

Hello There,
Does anyone work at Visa and is able to provide a referral? Please let me know. I am interested in one of the opportunities.
Thank You so much!

like

Hey bowl, would someone be interested in referring me for Product Manager/ Product Owner position at Google or Meta ?

like

I'm being asked to be involved in product pricing for the first time, and lack any knowledge or experience in that area. Any suggestions on courses or books or websites? I'm considering the Pragmatic Marketing pricing course, so would be interested to hear from anyone who has taken it.

like

I am seeking a technical co-founder for our b2b saas-based startup. We are a team alignment, communication, and performance reporting platform that makes it easier and more effective for teams to capture, organize, and disseminate updates.

About Me: I am a serial entrepreneur who has launched several successful companies. Please DM me if you or anyone in your network may be interested in this opportunity.

Post Photo
like

Hi all,
Have an interview for PM with Indeed coming up, I’m nervous I don’t have the experience analyzing data that they’re looking for. At my company, as senior pm, we always shortcut to just making intuition product decisions. Any tips on Indeed or generally studying up on data driven decision making would be so appreciated. Thank you!

like

Any available openings for a product management professional with an experience of over 3 years? Looking for people who are willing to provide a referral.

like

So, I have been working as a Director of Product in an Online Casino for about 3 years now. My specialization is around Risk and Optimization of transactions. I’m currently on Maternity leave and would love to venture into a Fintech startup. Since I cannot use my contacts in my industry for Job prospects, what other options do I have in Canada?

like

Landed my first PM role (growth) - any course/resource recommendations on how to be successful in it? Most posts I’ve found are catered with resources on how to pass interviews etc.

like

I just got an offer for a PM role at eBay. I don’t have an Eng background and I’ve never had a PM title within tech, although my previous roles involved a lot of PM-type work. So effectively this would be me “breaking into” product management and finally having the title. I think this could open a lot of doors but I’m very hesitant about eBay. It’s obviously not a “hot” company right now and I’m not sure how respected it would be for getting other PM jobs in the future. Should I make the jump?

like

Folks , I’m considering kicking off the job application process again. I feel like I can’t reach my potential as a PM at a consulting firm. For one, we have no access to user data, usually our users are clients, and we rarely get to interface with them. As a result, I don’t have any experience in A/B testing, or proper user experience research. Is this an extremely important skill? Should I look to jump sooner than later ? There are other skills I get to aggressively build here, however

like

I’m starting to look for a new company for the first time since graduating 4yrs ago. I’ve had different roles in my current company, from analytics to now PM, but this is my first time leaving the nest.

Any advice on how to approach the job hunt for PM, particularly around finding great companies to work for at this stage in my career? I want to be purposeful with my next move and find the right fit

like

What do the following metrics generally communicate abouta product and when should they be used?
1. A count like “total number of likes”
2. An average like “average number of likes per person”
3. A percentage/ratio “% of users who like”?

like

I’m starting to search for a new position and I see a lot of really granular roles: PM Notifications, PM, Site Navigation, etc. At my current company, I’m involved with almost the entire product and I directly own 2 current features top to bottom with multiple others in the research and design phases. I can’t imagine these being full-time positions. Can anyone with a role like this comment on what your day-to-day is like?

like

Best tips for breaking into Product Management as a consultant?

like

You’ve done customer interviews, collected user data for use cases - what has been your most successful (in the eyes of mgmt and internal stakeholders) to capture and display the data you collected so it is quick to digest and disperse?

like

Currently a product manager in gaming, looking to potentially switch into an SVOD service like HBO Max, Hulu, etc. If you or someone you know works at one of these companies, I’d love to chat and hear what it’s like! Also about the salary, as I’ve heard it can be lower than other tech companies!

like

Facebook RPM closes today! May the odds be ever in your favor

like

Has anyone tried using Calido as a PM tool? It seems really efficient based on their product demo but I’m wondering if this has been effective for the companies using this.

I’d love to know what your favorite PM Tools are too so feel free to share!

like

What are good resources/courses for someone who wants to transition into product marketing?

like

New to Fishbowl?

Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
That was just a preview…
Sign Up to see all discussions
  • Discover what it’s like to work at companies from real professionals
  • Get candid advice from people in your field in a safe space
  • Chat and network with other professionals in your field
Sign up in seconds to unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.

Already a user?
Login here

Share

Embed this post

Copy and paste embed code on your site

Preview

Download the
Fishbowl app

See what’s happening in your industry
from the palm of your hand.

A phone with Fishbowl app

Scan your QR code to download
Fishbowl app on your mobile

Download app

Sign up for free to view this conversation on Fishbowl

By continuing you agree to Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

Already have an account? Log in

Sign up for free to continue using Fishbowl

By continuing you agree to Terms of Use(New) and Privacy Policy(New)
Messaging rates may apply

Already have an account? Log in

For account settings, visit Fishbowl on Desktop Browser or

General

Legal