[buntar]

If I understand you right, the do not own the company (anymore)? So that would make them employees - no? I think it's pretty normal that employees explain what they are doing. Especially if they work in a specialized field that is hard for the management to understand fully. So it doesn't have to be mistrust or a form of repression against the engineers.

Yes I admit - I've always wanted time sheets. And they ARE a mixed blessing. They can have a strong negative influence on the "relationship" to your employees. I also have to learn my lesson(s). But I hold onto them for one reason: Timesheets were my revision history. When times are busy and the work is growing over your head, and you are sitting alone in your office, they can help you to understand what was done when.

They can become a very valuable historic document and planning instrument. Often the only way you can plan the future is understand the actions and errors you and your team made in the past,

[sethg]

I keep track of my time on different projects using a half-assed version of the Pomodoro Method. However, that time-tracking paperwork is for my benefit alone. If I felt that the entire corporate hierarchy was looking down my shoulder as I checked off my time, the method would lose its value to me.

[three14]

The problem is that timesheets are answering the wrong question for you. You want to know whether your employees are working or goofing off, and you want to know how long projects take. You should be able to tell that from the results of the project, not the hours. If you have two employees, one of whom works great only in short bursts after long games of ping-pong, and another that works slowly and steadily, and they both finish identical projects in two days, your business only needs to know that projects like that will take two days. If you then ask the employees to enter timesheets, you'll lose goodwill of the ping-pong player for no good reason.