Can you really track your time in 15-minute increments?

The beauty of Microsoft Project Web Access is overwhelming. You can now spend more time entering in a time for a task than it actually took to do it.

I sincerely hope no one ever records 0.01 hours for their tasks, but even the “reasonable” limit of 15 minutes is excessive.  Assume that you are given a task:

• 1 minute to receive the task through some automated process.
• 2 minutes to start up whatever tool is required to do the task.
• 2-3 minutes to focus your mind on that specific task.
• Time actually taken on the task.
• 1-3 minutes to report back the task as completed, send feedback to the client, etc…
• 1 minute to record time spent on the task in your project tracking software [or note it for later recording]

So, maybe you had 4-8 minutes to actually spend on the task?  I’m sure I’m forgetting plenty of other parts to the routine as well.

What happens if the break room coffee pot is out of coffee during the day and you’re not a complete jerk and actually make some more?  How long does a bathroom break really take?  What about the occasional fire drill?

I’d consider that the only 15-minute increments of time that I can track are interruptions from the task that I actually intended on focusing on–interruptions via email, instant message, phone…

Of course, if you recorded a 15-minute block for every interruption during the day, would you run out of hours in the day?

Also, how much time should you log for a  15-minute meeting?