Handle changes
Schedules change. Estimates are wrong, scope grows, people go out, deadlines move. This guide is the playbook for the disruptions you’ll hit most — each one resolves through the same New Plan preview, so you always see the impact before committing.
An estimate was wrong
You estimated 3 days but the task is taking 5.
Dashboard: click the task in the Scope tab and edit the estimate. Claude Code: “Update the Build event ingestion API estimate to 5 days — the edge cases are more complex than we expected.”
Review the New Plan . If a goal goes Off Track, consider:
Scope grew
New requirements appeared mid-stream:
Plenar shows exactly how the new work affects your timeline. If it pushes a goal past its target date, you see that immediately and can make a scope trade-off before committing.
Someone is out unexpectedly
Mark the time off and Plenar shifts their work to their next available days, cascading any dependents — “Mark Sarah Chen as sick Monday through Friday this week.” If the impact is severe, reassign her critical-path tasks. The full mechanics of time off, partial capacity, and overrides live in Availability.
A task is blocked
Report the blocker — “I’m blocked on Implement OAuth2 Google login, waiting on the platform team for Google OAuth credentials.” Plenar marks the task Blocked, holds its downstream work, and surfaces other tasks you can pick up. Start the task again when the blocker clears.
The team changed
When someone joins or leaves, assignments need to move. The steps — adding to the org, assigning to the project, and recomputing so Plenar redistributes work — are covered in Team management. The short version: after a team change, recompute so auto-assignment can rebalance; tasks still assigned to a removed member show warnings until reassigned.
A goal deadline moved
Stakeholders pulled the date in. Change the target date — on the goal detail panel, or “Move the Platform Foundation target date to May 23.” Plenar shows whether the new date is feasible with current scope and capacity; if not, the preview shows which goals go Off Track and by how much, so you can adjust priorities, scope, or assignments to recover. See Goal health for the recovery options in depth.
Several changes at once
Stack changes before applying — edit three estimates, add a dependency, reassign a task — and Plenar shows the combined effect as one New Plan . This is how grooming sessions work: make every adjustment, see the net result, then apply or discard the whole batch. There’s no partial apply.
Common questions
Will a change ever apply without my say-so? No. Every change opens a New Plan ; the Plan of Record only moves when you click Apply.
My estimate change pushed a goal Off Track — now what? Recover by cutting Nice scope, removing an unneeded dependency, adding capacity, or moving the target date. Goal health ranks these by impact.
Do I have to recompute after every change? No. A single edit previews on its own. Recompute only after you change who’s available — a team change or a large scope cut.
What happens to tasks assigned to someone who left? They stay assigned and raise a warning until you reassign them or let auto-assignment pick them up on a recompute.
What to do next
- Manage your schedule — the edit → preview → apply loop these scenarios run through.
- Goal health — recover a goal that slipped past its target date.
- Availability — model time off and capacity changes.
- Track progress with Claude Code — handle these changes from your editor.