Why You Should Obsess About Timesheets (Even If You Hate Them)

Let’s get this out of the way up front:

Timesheets.

Yes… we’re still talking about them.

If you’ve been leading an agency for more than five minutes, that word probably makes you sigh, swear, or smirk depending on how well you actually know your numbers.

But here’s the truth you can’t avoid:

If you’re running a time-based business and you don’t know where time is going, you’re not leading. You’re gambling.

Why This Conversation Never Dies

We still get agency clients asking about timesheets - not because they’re stuck in some 1990s billing model, but because they’re trying to run profitable, scalable service businesses.

And most of them ask the same questions:

• “What’s the best tool?”

• “How do I get the team to do them?”

• “Is there a way to make it fun?”

The answer?

There is no silver bullet.

But there is a blunt truth:

Timesheets → Margins → Survival

If you’re delivering work on retainers, fixed fees, or projects and you’re not tracking time…

You’re flying blind.

Your entire model is arbitrage.
You buy time (people) and you sell outcomes (delivered by those people).

If you don’t know where the time is going, you don’t know your gross margin.
And without gross margin, you’re not running a business.

You’re running a hope machine.

Smart agencies target 50–65% gross margin. That’s what gives you:

• Cash to invest

• Space to grow

• Protection from rough quarters

• A shot at an exit

No time accuracy? No margin visibility.
No margin visibility? No profit.
No profit? No agency.

This isn’t philosophy.
This is maths.

Why So Many Agencies Mess This Up

Because timesheets are a pain.

Your team doesn’t want to do them.
You don’t want to enforce them.
The tools are clunky.
Everyone avoids the topic until it bites.

But that doesn’t make them optional.

The most profitable agencies we see - the ones hitting 35–40% EBITDA - all share a pattern:

• Their FD knows exactly which services and clients are profitable

• They ditch unprofitable clients quickly

• They improve workflow using real data

• They innovate deliberately (to increase margin, not for shiny tech)

Every one of those outcomes starts with accurate time data.

The Real Problem Isn’t Timesheets - It’s How You Use Them

If your team fills them in weekly (or monthly), the data is fantasy.
They’re guessing. Reverse-engineering their week.

If your system “auto-detects” tasks from Slack or calendars, you’re not getting insight… you’re getting guesstimates.

This isn’t about micromanagement.
It’s about responsibility.

If you want real-time operational clarity, you need real-time data.

Timesheets twice a day. Non-negotiable.

It feels heavy-handed, but this isn’t a software issue.

It’s a habit-building issue.

Borrow This From Law Firms (Yes, Really)

Agencies love mocking law firms as old-school.
But law firms absolutely nail time tracking… because their model collapses if they don’t.

• Six-minute increments

• Real-time logging

• Relentless discipline

Unromantic? Sure.
Effective? 100%.

It gives them:

• Granular margin visibility

• Early warnings on scope creep

• More accurate pricing over time

Agencies want these outcomes… without the discipline.

It doesn’t work that way.

“But Timesheets Are Bullshit… Right?”

You’ve probably heard people say timesheets are temporary, inaccurate, or outdated.

And if you’re a solo strategic consultant doing £20k advisory engagements, fine… maybe you don’t need them.

But if you’re a 15–75 person agency with delivery teams, layered scopes, and a desire to scale?

You need them.

Because timesheets aren’t about billing.

They’re about clarity.

Clarity on:

• Which clients are profitable

• Which services are underpriced

• Who’s overloaded

• Whether you can afford a new hire

• Whether you should accept the next brief

These are the decisions that save - or sink - agencies.

Want to Ditch Timesheets One Day? Great. Start With Them Now.

Think of this as a progression:

Phase 1: Use timesheets to fix the floor

Plug leaks, kill broken scopes, get paid properly.

Phase 2: Optimise for value pricing

Use your data to justify premium pricing.

Phase 3: Graduate to data-informed instinct

Pricing, staffing, and strategy based on experience plus evidence.

Skipping straight to value pricing without knowing your delivery cost is like trying to sell a Ferrari before you know how to build a go-kart.

You can ditch timesheets… but only after they’ve done their job.

This Is Leadership Work, Not Admin

If you treat time data as “ops work,” you’re missing the point.

This is your job.

High-margin, scalable agencies have leaders who:

• Know their numbers

• Use those numbers to make strategic decisions

• Teach their teams why this data matters

This is the difference between an agency doer and an agency leader.

If you want to lead - truly lead - you need to know where the time goes.

Not someday.
Every day.

TL;DR - What To Do Next

• Accept that time is your core cost base. Track it like it matters (because it does).

• Make timesheet discipline a leadership issue, not an ops chore.

• Don’t rely on AI guesswork. Tools help - they don’t replace accountability.

• Review time data weekly. Look for surprises, patterns, problems.

• Act on it. Pricing, resourcing, workflows, client fit. Data must drive behaviour, or it’s pointless.

Final Word

No one is asking you to love timesheets.
But if your agency is struggling with margin, delivery, or clarity, this is one of the simplest, most powerful fixes available.

Timesheets aren’t about control.

They’re about building a business worth owning.

If you want to become the strategic, confident leader your agency needs, start by knowing where the time goes.

Every day. Not someday.