A completed example
This fictional example shows the level of detail to aim for. It is not a customer's work history.
TIME AUDIT Name: Dana R. Week: Monday 14 Sept to Friday 18 Sept Why I'm auditing: The Harbor app redesign keeps slipping and I want to know why. Categories: Deep work, Meetings, Email and chat, Admin MONDAY - 9:00-10:00 Email and chat: inbox, Slack catch-up - 10:00-12:00 Deep work: Harbor checkout screens, first pass - 13:00-14:30 Meetings: sprint planning, design review - 14:30-17:00 Deep work: checkout error states, not finished TUESDAY - 9:00-11:00 Meetings: client call, handoff with dev team - 11:00-12:00 Email and chat: replies to client feedback - 13:00-15:00 Deep work: checkout error states, done - 15:00-17:00 Admin: invoices, hiring request form WEDNESDAY - 9:00-12:00 Meetings: kickoff workshop with Lantern team - 13:00-14:00 Email and chat: inbox - 14:00-16:30 Deep work: Lantern onboarding flow sketches THURSDAY - 9:00-10:30 Deep work: Harbor settings page - 10:30-12:00 Email and chat: support escalations - 13:00-15:00 Meetings: two candidate interviews - 15:00-17:00 Deep work: Harbor settings page, half done FRIDAY - 9:00-10:00 Meetings: standup and retro - 10:00-12:00 Email and chat: clearing the week's backlog - 13:00-14:00 Admin: expense report - 14:00-16:00 Deep work: Lantern onboarding flow, not finished SUMMARY - Deep work: 14.5 hours - Meetings: 9.5 hours - Email and chat: 6.5 hours - Admin: 3 hours - Total logged: 33.5 hours What I noticed: Harbor only got deep work on three days. Wednesday's workshop took the whole morning. Email crept into every morning. Next week: Protect 9:00-11:00 Monday to Thursday for Harbor. Batch email at 11:00 and 16:00. Still open: Harbor settings page, Lantern onboarding flow.
Make it yours
Your draft
The example is fictional. Edits stay in this page and disappear when you leave. Copy or download your work to keep it.
How to fill it in
- Write down the one question you want the audit to answer before Monday starts, such as why a project keeps slipping.
- Pick three to five categories and use only those all week, so the totals stay easy to compare.
- Log blocks as you go or at least before lunch and at the end of the day, because memory blurs within hours.
- On Friday, add up each category, check that the category totals match the sum of your daily blocks, and write the patterns you see in plain words.
- Choose one or two changes for next week and list unfinished work under Still open so it carries forward.
Start from your actual work
On a Mac, Dayflow can help you remember the work behind the update. It drafts a timeline from screen activity. Export a date range as Markdown from Settings → Export. Review that record alongside your calendar and task tracker, then fill in the template above.
For a guided walkthrough, see exporting your work history or drafting a report with Claude Code. Check the assistant's draft before sending it.
Local AI keeps screenshot analysis on-device. Your own cloud provider or Dayflow Pro processes selected screenshots off-device. An assistant can receive the Dayflow data it retrieves in your conversation. Local storage does not make a cloud assistant conversation local. Read the data-flow guide before choosing a workflow.
Questions about this template
What is a time audit?
A time audit is a short record of how you actually spent your working hours, grouped into a few categories and totaled at the end. Its purpose is personal: to compare where your time went against what you meant to do, then adjust. It is not a performance review and not a record anyone else needs to approve.
How long should a time audit last?
One working week is usually enough to see patterns, because it covers your regular meetings, inbox habits and admin. A single day can be unusual, while several weeks of logging gets tiring and often gets abandoned. If your week was clearly unrepresentative, such as a holiday or a launch, repeat the audit the following week.
What categories should I use in a time audit?
Use three to five categories that match the question you are asking. Deep work, meetings, email and chat, and admin cover most office roles. If you want to know how much time a specific project gets, add it as its own category. Too many categories make logging slow and the summary harder to read.
Is a time audit the same as a timesheet?
No. A time audit is a private log for understanding your own habits, and it can be rough. A timesheet is a formal record used for pay, billing or approval, and it usually follows your employer's or client's rules. You can use audit notes to help fill in a timesheet, but the audit itself is not an approved record.
How can I log a week without forgetting what I did?
Log in short bursts, before lunch and at the end of each day, rather than reconstructing the week on Friday. On a Mac, Dayflow can draft a timeline of your day from screen activity, which you can use as a starting point. You still need to check it for mistakes and add offline work like calls, meetings and paper tasks.
What should I do with time audit results?
Pick one or two changes, not ten. Common ones are protecting a fixed block for focused work, batching email into set times, or moving admin to one afternoon. Note what is still unfinished so it carries into next week. If you want to see whether the change worked, run the same audit again a few weeks later.
Use the right format for the next step
- Weekly status report for a concise progress update.
- Daily work log for a record you can come back to.
- Daily standup template for yesterday, today, and blockers.
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