How Alan helps with scheduling
Intelligent recommendations
When you ask “Who should I assign this to?”, Alan considers:Availability
Who has capacity and how many hours they have available
Workload
Current commitments and how easy it is to interrupt them
Skills
Work type match (development, design, or QA)
Context
Leave status, past work on the client or project
Contextual help
Alan provides scheduling recommendations in two ways:- In the chat - Ask assignment questions anywhere Alan is available
- Scheduling dialogs - Click “Ask Alan” when scheduling work for task-specific recommendations
Using Alan in scheduling dialogs
The best way to get scheduling help is through the “Ask Alan” panel in scheduling dialogs.Step 1: Open the scheduling dialog
When scheduling a help desk ticket, subtask, or block:- Click “Schedule” on the item
- Look for the “Ask Alan” button or panel
Step 2: Get recommendations
Alan automatically analyzes the work and suggests assignees:- Work type is determined based on the task (dev, design, or QA)
- Context from the ticket or task is considered
- Team availability is checked in real-time
Step 3: Review suggestions
Alan presents recommendations with:- Name and role of each suggested person
- Available hours they have today/this week
- Workload context (e.g., “no urgent commitments”, “has some tasks today”)
- Reason why they’re a good fit
Step 4: Assign with one click
Each recommendation includes an action button:- Click the button to instantly assign the work
- No need to navigate away from the chat
- The dialog updates with your selection
Understanding workload tiers
Alan considers how easy it is to interrupt someone’s current work using a 4-tier system:| Tier | Current Work | Interruption | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Help desk tickets (P1/P2) | Hardest | Working on urgent client issues |
| Tier 2 | Multi-day WIP tasks | Hard | Finishing a task started yesterday |
| Tier 3 | Single-day tasks | Medium | Has tasks scheduled for today |
| Tier 4 | New/future work only | Easiest | Only future work or nothing scheduled |
Alan prioritizes people in lower workload tiers (easier to interrupt) when multiple team members have similar availability.
Example scheduling questions
Basic assignment
Specific requirements
Client-specific work
Urgent work
What Alan considers
Availability calculation
Alan checks each team member’s:- Scheduled hours - Work already planned
- Capacity - Total billable hours available
- Available hours - Capacity minus scheduled work
Leave and holidays
Team members on leave are:- Excluded from top recommendations
- Still shown but flagged as “on leave”
- Not suggested for urgent work
Work type matching
Alan only suggests team members whose work type matches the requirement:- Development tasks → Developers
- Design tasks → Designers
- QA tasks → QA team members
Priority and scheduling logic
How priority affects scheduling
CharleOS uses a priority system to determine what gets scheduled first:- Help desk tickets (highest priority)
- WIP multi-day tasks (should complete before starting new work)
- Single-day tasks starting today
- New multi-day tasks starting today
- Future work (lowest priority)
Workload optimization
Alan aims to:- Balance workload across the team
- Minimize interruptions to focused work
- Match skills to task requirements
- Consider context like client history
Tips for better recommendations
Use scheduling dialogs
Get the best recommendations by using “Ask Alan” in scheduling dialogs where context is automatically provided
Be specific about timing
Mention when the work needs to start: “today”, “tomorrow”, “next week”
Specify duration
Include estimated hours: “4-hour task” or “this will take 2 days”
Ask follow-ups
Refine recommendations by asking “What about Sarah?” or “Who else is available?”
What if nobody’s available?
When the team is at capacity, Alan will:- Still provide recommendations based on best fit
- Note workload constraints in the explanation
- Suggest people with the lightest commitments
- Mention if someone is on leave but returning soon
- Ask Alan to check specific future dates
- Inquire about rescheduling existing work
- Get suggestions for who has the least disruptive workload
Scheduling in Slack
Alan’s scheduling recommendations also work in Slack:Slash command
Direct message
Limitations
Alan provides recommendations but cannot:- Automatically apply assignments - You must click the action button or manually assign
- Modify schedules - You must use the scheduling interface to make changes
- Account for task dependencies - You should consider if design must be done before dev
- Optimize across multiple days - Recommendations are based on current state
Future versions of Alan may include automatic scheduling, dependency awareness, and multi-day optimization. For now, Alan is your intelligent assistant providing recommendations you can apply with one click.