Going On Vacation?

Vacation season is here. Many of you will be notify callers of your absence through your voice mail message. Jim Calloway's recent post about the message you compose offers sound advice that applies to your "out-of-office" automatic email response as well. It had never occured to me that leaving the beginning date of your leave could be detrimental but his reasoning is sound. Check it out. (Although his advice is written for attorneys, it applies to expert witnesses as well).

Also, a reminder from me to make sure you change your message as soon as you return and turn off your automatic email reply.

Tracking (and Billing) Time

I've been reading numerous articles and posts lately about how much billable time is not billed. Expert consultants that bill by the hour (which should be most, since billing based on outcome is unethical!) are definitely at risk. In our fast-paced world of constant email, phone calls and other interruptions, it is easy to neglect writing down that fifteen minutes working on X before the next interruption. Later, you may not be sure or may think "it wasn't enough to worry about" and so on. But that time adds up and let's face it, your time is money.

I know there are many time-tracking tools, both online and in billing software. Are you using any? What would you recommend to other experts?