Warnings and Conflicts
Plenar monitors your schedule and raises warnings when something needs attention. Warnings do not block scheduling — they inform you so you can decide what to do.
Severity levels
| Level | Color | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Error | Red | The schedule cannot be computed as-is. You must fix the issue before a valid schedule can be produced. |
| Warning | Amber | The schedule is valid but has a problem worth addressing. Ignoring it risks delays or overload. |
| Info | Gray | Informational. Something changed or is unusual, but not necessarily a problem. |
Warnings appear in two places: the Schedule panel in the dashboard, and in MCP tool responses (via plenar_get_schedule_status).
Common warnings
Goal overrun
Severity: Warning (amber) or Error (red) for P0/P1 goals
What it means: A goal’s computed ETA is after its target date. The goal will not be delivered on time with the current plan.
Where it appears: Dashboard sidebar (goal turns red), Summary view, Schedule panel, plenar_get_schedule_status response.
How to fix:
- Cut scope — Move nice-to-have tasks out of the goal, or remove them entirely. This is the fastest recovery.
- Add capacity — Assign an additional team member to tasks in the goal.
- Reduce estimates — If tasks were overestimated, lower the estimates. Only do this if you genuinely believe the original estimates were too high.
- Extend the deadline — If the target date has flexibility, push it out.
- Remove dependencies — If tasks in the goal have unnecessary dependencies, removing them lets Plenar parallelize more work.
See Goal Health for recovery strategies.
Capacity exceeded
Severity: Warning (amber)
What it means: A team member is assigned more work than they have available days in a given period. This typically happens when time off or partial capacity reduces their effective availability.
Where it appears: Schedule panel, plenar_get_schedule_status response.
How to fix:
- Reassign tasks — Move some tasks to a less-loaded team member.
- Enable auto-assignment — Let Plenar redistribute work automatically.
- Adjust availability — If the capacity data is wrong (e.g., PTO was cancelled), update it.
- Extend estimates — If the overload is caused by underestimated tasks, correcting the estimates makes the schedule more realistic.
Unassigned tasks with no eligible member
Severity: Warning (amber) or Error (red) if auto-assignment is on
What it means: A task requires specific skills, and no team member with those skills is available or assigned to the project. Plenar cannot schedule the task.
Where it appears: Schedule panel, Scope Table (task has no scheduled dates).
How to fix:
- Add a qualified member — Assign someone with the required skills to the project.
- Remove the skill requirement — If the skill constraint is not strictly necessary, remove it so any member can be assigned.
- Manually assign — Override auto-assignment by picking a specific person, even if they do not have the ideal skill match.
See Skills and Assignment for more on skill configuration.
Dependency cycle detected
Severity: Error (red)
What it means: A circular dependency exists. Task A depends on Task B, which depends on Task C, which depends on Task A. No valid ordering exists, so Plenar cannot produce a schedule.
Where it appears: Schedule panel (error banner), preview response.
How to fix:
- Identify the cycle. The error message lists the tasks involved.
- Remove one dependency in the cycle to break it. Pick the relationship that is least critical.
See Dependencies for dependency best practices.
Missing estimates
Severity: Info (gray)
What it means: One or more tasks have no effort estimate. Plenar cannot schedule a task without knowing how long it takes.
Where it appears: Schedule panel, Scope Table (estimate column is empty).
How to fix:
- Add estimates to the tasks. Use
plenar_get_exemplarsorplenar_get_velocity_contextto calibrate. - If you are unsure, start with a rough estimate. You can refine it later — the change impact preview lets you see the impact of any change.
Blocked tasks with no resolution path
Severity: Warning (amber)
What it means: A task is marked as Blocked, but there is no clear way to unblock it. This often happens when a blocker is reported but the blocking task is also stuck.
Where it appears: Schedule panel, plenar_get_schedule_status response.
How to fix:
- Review the blocker chain using
plenar_list_blockers. - Resolve the root blocker — complete it, remove the dependency, or reassign it.
- If the blocker is external (waiting on another team, vendor, etc.), consider removing the dependency and adding estimated slack to the blocked task instead.
Viewing all warnings
From the dashboard
Open the Schedule panel. Warnings are listed at the top, grouped by severity. Click a warning to jump to the affected task or goal.
From Claude Code
"What warnings does the schedule have?"
"Are any goals off track?"
"Show me the schedule health"Claude calls plenar_get_schedule_status and presents warnings with context and suggested actions.
Resolving warnings efficiently
Most warnings resolve themselves when you address the underlying cause. The typical pattern:
- Read the warning to understand what is wrong.
- Make a change (cut scope, reassign, add capacity, fix dependency).
- The change triggers a preview showing the impact.
- Apply the change. Plenar recomputes and the warning clears if the issue is resolved.
You do not need to “dismiss” warnings. They appear when conditions warrant and disappear when those conditions no longer hold.
See Manage Your Schedule for the edit-preview-apply workflow.