Planning the week: scheduling that holds up
Realistic job times, buffers for the unexpected, and one shared schedule. How to plan a week that survives Monday.
By PrimemgrUpdated How we research and check this
A schedule that falls apart by Tuesday morning is worse than none, because everyone stops trusting it. A schedule that holds up is built on realistic times, allows for the unexpected, and is the one place everyone looks.
Use real job times
Book jobs for how long they actually take, not how long they should take. Look back at similar jobs; if a “one-hour” job regularly takes ninety minutes, book ninety minutes.
Leave room between jobs
Travel, parking, a customer who wants to chat, a part that is not where it should be. Build a buffer between jobs so one overrun does not push the whole day late.
Keep one schedule
When the office has one version of the week and the team has another, somebody turns up at the wrong place. Keep a single schedule everyone works from, and move bookings on it rather than around it.
Tell customers when things move
When a booking moves, the customer should hear about it, and should not be reminded about the old time.
How this works in Primemgr
Bookings shows the week for your whole team. Drag a booking to move it: the reminders move with it, so the customer is never reminded about a time that no longer exists. Each booking can carry buffer time before and after it.