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The Hour Ledger Praxis Request the Hour Ledger

Self-run time study · one back-office task

Find out how many hours your office really spends on one task.

One week, your own people, no hiring and no consultant in the room. You end with one page you can put on the table the next time somebody says it only takes an hour.

$99 one time Bought once for one named task. No call, no account, no access to anything of yours.

The argument this settles

  • “It is maybe two hours a week. It cannot be worth software.”
  • “It eats Dana’s entire Thursday and you know it.”
  • “Their quote lands Friday and we still cannot price what it replaces.”

Three people, three numbers, no measurement.

Hour Ledger · filled example

Supplier invoice entry

Halcott Mechanical, 12 people, two of them in the office

Task sentence Enter supplier invoices into the accounting system and match them to a purchase order. Starts when the invoice arrives in the shared accounts inbox. Ends when it is posted and matched.

Study week
Mon 2 to Fri 6 March
Days logged
4 of 5
Block size
15 minutes
Hours on the named task by person, for the four logged days
Person Days marked (of 4 logged) Hours Loaded rate Cost
Dana R. Accounts payable 4 of 4 6.75 $34.00 $229.50
Miguel S. Office coordinator 3 of 4 3.25 $31.00 $100.75
Ray V. Owner, exceptions only 2 of 4 1.00 $68.00 $68.00
Total, four logged days 11.00 $398.25

Where the eleven hours went Bars: share of the 11.00 logged hours, full width is 100 percent

  • AChasing a missing or wrong PO number3.75 h
  • BRe-keying from a PDF or paper invoice3.00 h
  • CPrice or quantity mismatch against the PO2.00 h
  • DFinding the person who can approve it1.25 h
  • EDuplicate, resent or misdirected invoice0.75 h
  • FOther, named on the line0.25 h

Shares are rounded down, so the column shows 98 percent.

Reading. 11.00 hours across the four logged days, at a cost of $398.25 at the rates entered. Miguel and Ray marked the days they did not touch the task as none, so there are no holes in the four logged days. Nobody logged Wednesday, so this is a floor for the week and not an estimate. The sheet does not annualize for you.

Largest single cause: A, 34 percent. The hours are going to purchase order numbers, not to typing.

Decision

  • Fix it internally
  • Buy something
  • Leave it alone

Cause A sits upstream of accounts payable, so invoice software would not touch it. Fix how field crews raise a PO first. Re-check in 30 days.

Illustrative example. Halcott Mechanical, the people and every figure here are invented.

What arrives, and when

Files first. Your own number eight working days later, if you run the week.

On delivery

  • The tally instrument. One sheet per person per day, 15-minute blocks, six cause codes. Printable and as a spreadsheet.
  • The scoring sheet. Enter the daily rows; it returns hours per person, the split by cause, the cost line and the largest single cause. It refuses to produce a number from an incomplete week.
  • The filled worked example. The full five days behind the ledger above, including the day nobody logged.
  • A recorded walkthrough. Under ten minutes, for whoever will own the sheet.

The instrument, the scoring sheet and the walkthrough are being built now. A request gets you the terms and the date they are ready.

Within eight working days, if you run it

  • Your Hour Ledger. One page: hours per week on the named task, split by person and by cause, with a cost line at the loaded rates you enter and keep to yourself.
  • A written decision. Fix it internally, buy something, or leave it alone, with the reason recorded next to the number.

The week runs whenever you choose. Nothing expires except the 12-month download window.

What we do not do

  • We do not run the study, sit in your office, or observe anyone.
  • We do not receive, store or analyze your tally. It never leaves your business unless you later choose to share it.
  • No call is included at this price. Method questions get one email exchange within 14 days of purchase, in business hours.
  • No savings claim, no benchmark against other companies, and no promise about what your number will be.

How it works

You supply the week. We supply the instrument. One person checks the day.

  1. 01

    What you put in

    • One named task, written in a sentence with a start event and an end event.
    • Five consecutive working days that you pick.
    • The two or three people who actually do the task.
    • One loaded hourly rate per person, entered by you and kept to yourself.
    • A decision about who owns the tally sheet each day.

    No system access, no logins, no files, no account.

  2. 02

    What we supply

    • The method, published free further down this page and free to download.
    • The instrument, the scoring sheet, the worked example and the walkthrough. That is the paid part.
    • One email exchange about method within 14 days of purchase, answered in business hours.

    We perform no work inside your business and request nothing from your systems.

  3. 03

    The human checkpoint

    • Each evening the sheet owner confirms that every named person either logged something or marked the day as none.
    • On Friday they score the week and read the refusal rule before writing anything down.
    • You write the decision, and the reason, in your own words. The sheet does not decide anything.

    Tell the staff the study is about the task, not about them. A week people fill in defensively measures nothing.

The method, free

The whole method is on this page. Only the instrument is paid for.

A managed assistant firm publishes a five-day worksheet for nothing, and two time trackers publish a free plan. Charging for a method you can find in one search would be dishonest, and it would not survive that search. So here it is, in full.

The task sentence test

The first page of the instrument will not accept a task without a start event and an end event. This is the rule that decides whether the week is worth running.

Passes

  • “Enter supplier invoices and match them to a PO. Starts when the invoice hits the shared inbox. Ends when it is posted and matched.”
  • “Build the weekly service schedule. Starts when Friday’s job list is final. Ends when every technician has Monday’s route.”

Fails

  • “Accounts payable.” A department, not a task.
  • “Admin.” A mood.
  • “Fixing supplier problems.” No end event, so no two people will agree when a block of work stopped.

The six cause codes

Six at most. One code per 15-minute block, marked as the work happens. The set below is the one used in the example; you adapt the wording to your task.

A
Chasing a missing or wrong PO number
B
Re-keying from a PDF or paper invoice
C
Price or quantity mismatch against the PO
D
Finding the person who can approve it
E
Duplicate, resent or misdirected invoice
F
Other, named on the line

F never passes a quarter of the week without you writing down what is in it. A bucket labeled other that swallows the week turns a study into a shrug.

The five-day protocol

  1. Write the sentence. Start event and end event, or do not start the week.
  2. Name the people and the rates. Wage plus payroll taxes plus benefits, divided by paid hours. The rates stay with you.
  3. Say what is being measured. The task, not the person. Out loud, before Monday.
  4. Mark the sheet as the work happens. Fifteen-minute blocks, one cause code each, never reconstructed on Friday from memory.
  5. Check the day every evening. Logged, or marked as none. A day left blank is a hole, not a zero.
  6. Score the week. Hours per person, split by cause, cost line, largest single cause.
  7. Write the decision. Fix it internally, buy something, or leave it alone, with the reason next to the number.

Leave it alone is a real result. Plenty of tasks that feel enormous turn out to cost four hours a week, and knowing that is worth the week it took to find out.

What your people actually mark

The blank instrument is one sheet per person per day. No app to open, no login, no timer running in the background. It works next to a free tracker or on a clipboard, because what is scarce here is the definition and the tally protocol, not the timer.

Shown at readable size. The blank sheet and the scoring sheet are the paid part of this offer.

Daily tally sheet, blank

Person

Date

Task code

Blank tally rows in 15-minute blocks with a cause code column
Block15 min304560Cause
08:00
09:00
10:00
11:00
13:00
14:00
15:00
16:00

Codes A · B · C · D · E · F

End of day Logged □   None □

The scoring sheet

The part that refuses.

A worksheet will happily average four days into five and hand you a confident number. This one will not. Pick a week and see what the sheet prints.

The week

  • MonLogged
  • TueLogged
  • WedNone
  • ThuLogged
  • FriLogged

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday logged by all three people. Wednesday missed by everyone during an install push.

Sheet output

Number produced

  • 11.00 hours across the four logged days.
  • $398.25 at the rates entered.
  • Largest single cause: A, 34 percent.
  • Wednesday excluded. The total is labeled a floor for the week, not an estimate.

The week

  • MonLogged
  • TueLogged
  • WedNone
  • ThuNone
  • FriNone

Monday and Tuesday logged. Then a heat wave, and the sheet sat on the counter from Wednesday on.

Sheet output

No number. This week is unusable.

  • 2 of 5 days logged, below the three-day floor.
  • The sheet prints the rerun protocol instead of a total.
  • Rerun a week without a holiday, a shutdown or an install push in it. The files stay yours for 12 months.

A refusal is cheaper than a number three people will argue with for a month.

The week

  • MonLogged
  • TueLogged
  • WedNone
  • ThuLogged
  • FriLogged
  • Dana R.Marked
  • Miguel S.Marked
  • Ray V.Unmeasured

Four days logged by two people. The third person, who everyone agrees touches the task, marked nothing all week.

Sheet output

Number produced, marked as a floor

  • That person’s row is reported as unmeasured and excluded from the total.
  • The total is labeled a floor rather than an estimate, on the page and in the ledger heading.
  • Nothing is filled in on their behalf. The sheet never invents a block.

Look at the instrument first

The filled week and the free method, before you decide anything.

Both files are invented sample material. The method is free and stays free. The tally instrument, the scoring sheet and the walkthrough are the paid part.

CSV The filled five-day tally

The invented week behind the ledger on this page: every 15-minute block, the day nobody logged, the totals by person and by cause, and the scoring notes.

Download Markdown The five-day method

The whole method, free: the task sentence test, the six cause codes, the daily check, the refusal rule and the decision box.

Download

Worth a week, or not.

Buy it if

  • One back-office task is the subject of a live disagreement and nobody can support their number.
  • A quote or a hire is on the table and you cannot price the thing it would replace.
  • Two or three named people do the task and will mark a sheet honestly for five days.
  • You want the number before you want a pitch.

Do not buy it if

  • Your tracker already answers the question for this task. Then it is answered, and this adds nothing.
  • You want somebody else to do the measuring. This is self-run, and no call is included.
  • You cannot name the task in one sentence with a start and an end yet. Fix that first; it is free.
  • You need it for a payroll, wage-hour or employment matter. This is not built for that and should not be used for it.
  • You have already decided to buy the software. A number you gather after the decision is decoration.

Fair questions

Before you spend $99 and a week of your office’s attention.

Our software already does this.
A tracker records time against whatever labels are already in it. This is a definition and a protocol: one task with a written start and end, a tally by person and by cause, and a scoring sheet that refuses to produce a number from an incomplete week. Clockify publishes a free plan capped at five users and Toggl Track publishes a free plan too, both observed 7 September 2026, and the instrument works alongside either, or on paper. If a tracker already answers the question for this task, do not buy this.
Why should we trust you?
There is nothing to trust us with. No access is requested, no data is sent to us, and the artifact is visible before you pay: the filled example is at the top of this page and the blank instrument is above. Judge it by looking at it.
Why this price?
$99 one time buys the tally instrument, the scoring sheet, the filled worked example and a recorded walkthrough. The method itself is published free on this page. SystemaFlow publishes its System Friction Audit, an async diagnostic where somebody else writes the report, at $397 as a launch price against a stated standard price of $595, observed 7 September 2026. This sits far below that band because the analysis stays with you, and the credit against a later engagement is written into the terms you get back.
What do you need from us?
One named task in one sentence, five consecutive working days, the two or three people who do the task, and a loaded hourly rate per person that you keep to yourself. No system access, no logins, no files.
Who talks to our customers?
Nobody. This offer touches no customer of yours and produces nothing customer-facing.
What if it goes wrong?
It goes wrong two ways: a week that is not logged, and a task that was never one task. Both are handled in the instrument. Below three logged days of five the scoring sheet reports the week as unusable and gives the rerun protocol instead of a number, and the first page will not accept a task with no written start and end. If the week fails, rerun it; the files stay yours for 12 months. Method questions get one email exchange within 14 days, in business hours. There is no refund once the files are delivered, and the terms you get back say that before you pay.
Why not a virtual assistant firm or a consultant?
Prialto publishes a five-day time-audit worksheet free with no email gate, observed 7 September 2026, and then talks about taking the work. A consultant’s discovery call is usually free and comes with a proposal attached. Both are reasonable if you already know you want to buy help. This is for the case where you want the number first and do not want a pitch sitting inside your measurement.

The workspace behind this

Praxis is where the fixing happens, after you have the number.

Praxis is a workspace where your people, AI agents and business apps work in one operating context, on one task at a time, with a person accountable for every step. The Hour Ledger is upstream of all of that: it exists so you can tell whether a task is worth putting into a workspace at all, and so the answer can be no.

If your ledger says the task is worth fixing, the next step is a fixed-scope engagement on that one task, quoted after a scope review. There is no repeat purchase of this instrument, and we will not invent one.

Kevin, who runs Praxis, reads these requests and answers the method email himself. If something in the week goes sideways, that is the escalation path, and it is one person, not a queue.

One next step

Name the task. Take the number to the argument.

Tell us the one task you want measured, in a sentence with a start and an end. A person reads it and replies with the terms for the instrument at $99 one time. The request is reviewed by a person, it activates nothing, and no card is taken on this page.

Request the Hour Ledger

Everything shown on this page is invented sample material. The checkout is not open yet and this offer is not a running service.