Tracking Shop Hours

[Farrell]

This post follows up my post on old upright rebuilding. Does anyone have any
great tried-and-true methods for tracking shop hours - hours spent on
individual projects - and better yet, broken down into specific tasks. I am
hopelessly (or nearly so) disorganized, and I would rather try to cast a new
plate in my shop that try to track my hours. How do you organized folks out
there do it? I remember the Journal cover from a-ways back with Ted ......
(the wonderful dude from England) on the cover standing in front of his
super-neat tool storage in his shop (he can likely tell you it took him 14.7
hours be build that shelving) - so I know you organized techs exist - you
can't hide.

It's horrible. I have rebuild a couple pianos and actions, but I still don't
know how long it takes to rebuild a piano or an action (or at least not a
accurately as I would like). My troubles may be compounded by the fact that
I have my shop structure attached to the back of my garage at home. It is
common for me to walk by, go into the shop, and do 15 minutes of work (glue
on 3 damper felts, glue on a keytop, file 6 hammers, turn 12 capstans, level
4 keys, etc.), and go back to cooking dinner or scolding the dog.

Any input??? Thanks.

Terry Farrell