Time is a precious commodity for both the individual and the company. Almost every company has a requirement to record time spent on tasks or working with clients yet too few companies actually use this data in a sensible way.

Time recording is something I consider an annoying yet essential task. It is useful to know how long it takes to build a server, to review a document, to configure a network switch and so on.

Proper project time planning is based on the knowledge of how long a task took previously, Anything else is a wild stab in the dark and this is why too many IT projects complete late. In many cases the project managers take wild guesses at how long a task will take to accomplish. Its easier to say "Deploy a server" then it is to accurately break it down into sub tasks of installation, configuration, application installation, application configuration, racking, cabling, firewall processes, change control processes, etc.
Breaking the task down like this allows time can be more accurately recorded and later analysed.
Crucially it will also provide a better estimate of how long those tasks will take to perform next time and thus allow better planning for future projects.

There is only one place that I know of where major tasks are broken down to individual components and where a task is practiced and recorded until the person can almost do it blindfolded in a set amount of time and that's .

NASA