Does the plan need one person in two places?
Dependency arithmetic is happy to run two projects in parallel. It has no idea they belong to the same person. That gap is where most confident plans quietly go wrong, and no amount of critical path analysis will surface it.
Words on this sheet
- Predecessors: The tasks that have to finish before this one can start. Put their IDs here, separated by commas, and leave it blank when nothing has to come first.
Work Intermediate Resource Load Pro engine
After you install, this is the model to open.
Agency Load: Who Is Overbooked?
- In your spreadsheet, click the Sortia icon in the strip of icons down the right-hand edge. No strip? Click the arrow at the bottom-right to open it. You can also use Extensions, then Sortia, then Open Sortia.
- Click Start from a template and put that name in the search box.
- Pick the card with that name and click Load this template. It arrives on a new tab with real numbers already in it.
This one runs on a Pro engine, and every free install includes five full-quality runs on your own numbers, shared across all five Pro engines rather than five for each. After that, Pro is $199/year.
The answer
Load at the early-start schedule:
- Plan says
- 17 days
- Nina carries
- 24 days 141%
- Double-booked
- 9 days straight
- Tom
- 112% also over
The dependencies finish in 17 days while Nina carries 24 days of work, running at 141% and double-booked for 9 straight days. Tom is at 112%. Nothing in the schedule arithmetic catches this. Fix it by moving a client, adding a person, or moving the date now, while it is still a planning decision rather than an apology.
The model
Five pieces of work across three clients, with an owner on each. Two of them start at the same time.
| Client A brand refresh | 12 days · Nina |
| Client B campaign | 9 days · Nina |
| Client C website | 14 days · Tom |
| Client A rollout | 5 days · Tom |
| Quarter review deck | 3 days · Nina |
Once it is in your sheet
- The model arrives with real numbers in it and runs as it stands, so you can press the button first and understand it second.
- Change the numbers to yours. The sheet marks which cells are inputs and which hold formulas, and most labels carry a note explaining the row.
- Press the run button at the bottom of the panel. It is labeled for the tool you are in, and the result lands on its own tab, with a written reading of it beside the figures.
Never used Google Sheets? Start here goes the whole way, in seven steps, and assumes nothing.
Next question
- You are 43% done. When does the project actually finish?Will the Project Finish on Time?
- What should your day rate actually be?What Day Rate Does a Freelancer Need to Charge?
- Who should work on which project?Best-Fit Assignments
- What should you bid to win the job and still make money?Competitive Bid Optimizer
- What will this project actually cost at completion?Project Health Check (EVM)
- Fund the safe project or the risky one?
Every model like this one, and the method behind them: Schedule risk analysis.