Manage your schedule
Everything in Plenar follows one pattern: you make a change, Plenar shows you a New Plan preview, and you decide whether to apply it. This guide walks that loop. For why the preview exists and how Plenar judges a change, see Preview and apply.
The core loop
- Make a change — edit an estimate, reassign a task, add a dependency, log time off.
- Read the New Plan — Plenar recomputes and the New Plan panel shows exactly what moves and why.
- Decide — Apply to commit it to the Plan of Record, or Discard to throw it away.
Nothing is saved until you apply, so you can experiment freely — change estimates, move tasks, try assignments — and always see what shifts before committing.
The Plan of Record
The Plan of Record is the currently committed plan — the version clients, execs, and teammates all see:
- Every task’s scheduled start and end dates come from it
- Goal and milestone ETAs come from it
- The Timeline shows it
It changes only when you apply. Between applies it’s stable — nothing moves your tasks behind your back.
Reading the New Plan
When you edit anything, the change is queued as pending and Plenar recomputes and shows a New Plan automatically. You can stack several changes — adjust three estimates, reassign two tasks, add a dependency — and see the combined effect as one preview. The panel breaks it down:
| Section | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Moved tasks | Tasks that shifted dates, with the delta (+3 = pushed 3 days later, −2 = pulled 2 days earlier) |
| Assignment changes | Tasks that moved to a different team member |
| Goal impact | Goals whose ETAs changed, with the slip or gain and the resulting On Track / Off Track state |
| Milestone impact | Milestones whose ETAs changed |
| Whether the plan got better, worse, or stayed the same | Plenar’s verdict on the change — see Preview and apply for how it decides |
Applying or discarding
- Apply commits all pending changes and promotes the New Plan to the Plan of Record. Plenar may then settle into a slightly better arrangement if one exists that doesn’t make anything worse.
- Discard drops all pending changes; the Plan of Record is untouched.
There’s no partial apply — pending changes commit or discard as a batch.
Refresh vs. recompute
Two distinct actions:
- Refresh pulls the latest data — others’ applied changes, availability updates, calendar syncs — without recomputing. Lightweight; use it to see what’s changed since you last looked.
- Recompute rebuilds the plan from scratch, reconsidering every auto-assigned task (manually assigned tasks keep their assignees). The result opens as a New Plan. Use it after big changes — new team members, bulk imports, major scope cuts — when you want Plenar to find fresh assignments.
| Scenario | Action |
|---|---|
| Calendar sync pulled new time off | Refresh — Plenar already accounts for it |
| New team member added | Recompute — so Plenar can assign work to them |
| One estimate changed | Neither — editing it opens a New Plan automatically |
| Major scope cut (10+ tasks removed) | Recompute — frees capacity to redistribute |
| A teammate applied changes while you edited | Refresh — pulls their changes into your view |
| Team member left the project | Recompute — reassigns their work |
What opens a New Plan
Every kind of change goes through the preview — task estimates, assignments, dependencies, scope, status, and skills; goal and milestone creation, priority, and target dates; team availability and skill updates; project start and end dates; and scheduling settings like skill scheduling and lead time.
Common questions
Does anything change while I’m previewing? No. The Plan of Record holds until you click Apply. Discard and nothing was ever saved.
Can I make several changes and apply them together? Yes. Pending changes stack into one New Plan and apply or discard as a batch — there’s no partial apply.
When do I need to recompute instead of just editing? Editing one thing previews on its own. Recompute when you’ve changed who is available — added or removed a team member, or cut a large batch of work — so Plenar can reassign from scratch.
What’s the difference between Refresh and Recompute? Refresh just pulls the latest data into your view. Recompute rebuilds the plan and reconsiders auto-assignments.
What to do next
- Preview and apply — why the preview exists and how Plenar judges a change.
- Handle changes — playbooks for the changes you’ll make most.
- Track progress with Claude Code — drive this loop from your editor.
- Goal health — read the goal impact the preview shows you.