The week the senior planner was off
Your senior planner has been with you for years. They know that one customer's site in Doncaster closes its gates at two on Fridays, that a certain driver will not do double-deck trailers, that the food customer needs a clean trailer and a copy of the last wash certificate, and that the builders' merchant always adds a load at five. None of it is written down.
When they took a week off, the plan was built by someone else, and the week was a series of surprises: a truck at a closed gate, a customer annoyed about the trailer, a driver who refused a load.
Why the knowledge never leaves their head
Nobody decided that planning should depend on one person. It happens because the planning tool, whether it is a whiteboard, a spreadsheet or a transport system, only holds loads and vehicles. The rest has nowhere to go.
- Site opening times and quirks are remembered, not recorded.
- Customer requirements are passed on by word of mouth.
- Driver preferences, qualifications and restrictions are known informally.
- Planning tools have no space for notes that show up at the right time.
- The experienced planner is too busy to write anything down.
What it costs
The obvious risk is illness, holidays or resignation. The less obvious cost is that the senior planner can never step back to improve how you plan, because they are the plan. Newer planners take much longer to become useful, and they make the same mistakes each time. Customers notice the difference in service when the main planner is away.
The shared planning board we build
- We spend time with your senior planner and write down what they know, organised by customer, site, driver and vehicle: opening times, booking rules, equipment needs, restrictions, preferences.
- Each piece becomes a note or a rule on the relevant record. Some are simple reminders; others are checks, such as 'this site needs a tail-lift' or 'this driver does not hold the right qualification for this load'.
- When anyone plans a load, the relevant notes and warnings appear in front of them at the moment they allocate it.
- Planners add notes as they learn things, so the knowledge keeps growing and stays shared.
- The board sits alongside your transport system, or inside it if it can take our additions, so there is no second place to plan.
- A handover view shows what is planned, what is open, and any issues, for the next shift or a cover planner.
| Knowledge | Where it lives now | On the planning board |
|---|---|---|
| Site opening times and quirks | Senior planner's memory | Notes on the site, shown at allocation |
| Customer requirements | Word of mouth | Rules checked on each load |
| Driver restrictions | Informal | Warnings when allocating |
| Handover | A phone call | Shared handover view |
How planning changes
The senior planner still plans, and still knows more than the board. But they are no longer the only person who can. Cover planners get the warnings the senior planner would have given them. New planners learn faster. And the senior planner can take a holiday without the phone ringing. The business ends up with planning that does not depend on one person, and that is worth more than any single good week.
There is a practical benefit for growth as well. When you add a depot, take on a contract or promote a driver into the office, the new planner starts with years of knowledge already in front of them instead of starting from scratch.
Is your planning like this?
- One planner is essential and everyone knows it.
- Cover weeks bring avoidable mistakes.
- Site and customer quirks are not written down.
- New planners take a long time to be trusted.
- Your senior planner cannot take a proper holiday.