Guide · Running
What a planner does all week, and what software can take
A planner’s week is mostly chasing, checking and rewriting. Software should take that part, and leave the judgement.
Where the week goes
Ask a planner to keep a note of one week and the same jobs come up:
- Building next week’s plan around holidays, skills and who is where.
- Re-planning when something breaks and the plan falls apart.
- Chasing parts, contractors and certificates.
- Checking closed jobs have what they need on them.
- Writing up what was done for managers and clients.
What software can take
The repeat work: putting due jobs on the right person’s phone, reminding before a certificate runs out, flagging a job closed without its reading, and writing the first draft of the report. None of it needs judgement; all of it takes hours.
What stays with a person
Deciding what matters most this week, saying yes to a shutdown, signing off safety work, and talking to the client when something goes wrong. Software can suggest; a person decides, and the record shows who.
How to start
Pick the one task the planner dreads most and move it first. When that hour comes back every week, the next one is an easy sell.
Checklist
- One week of the planner’s time noted down
- The repeat tasks marked: plan, chase, check, write up
- The decisions that stay with a person listed
- One dreaded task picked to move first
Sources
Our own advice, from running maintenance. This guide quotes no studies and no figures.
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