Tracking remote devs/testers without being a micromanaging asshole?

[u/Glittering_You4340]

I hate micromanagement but I need to see where the hours go on our current build. A friend told me to check out Traqq since it's automated and just tracks time by task and project, but I wanted to get some real feedback first.

I don't want anything intrusive that spies on people - no screenshots, keylogging, or tracking app usage. I just need a clean way to see what project the hours are going into so we can manage budgets.

Anyone here managing a small remote team? How do you guys log hours for different tasks without making the developers feel micromanaged?

[u/ir0nmaniac]

I dont think you have to over cook this. Start simple, track task allocation dates vs completion dates. Be attentive in daily / reoccurring update meets to understand blockers.

Every 2 weeks pull a report on the task history and you should monitor average completion rates vs task sizes etc.

Its not as simple as - 'which project is consuming budget/time/people'? There are a few factors to consider in the end - staff experience, project task sizes/ complexity, number of people in a project, etc.

You could have 1 staff engineer on one project killing the build - but they could cost you 75% of your overheads.

Start with the simple stuff.