Feedback · Hybrid team planner

Hybrid team planner

Start here

Team members

Manager requirements

Collaboration needs

Your hybrid plan

Feedback

I’d love to hear how this planner works for you and your team.

⁠

Send me an email⁠

find me on LinkedIn⁠

, and let me know if GPT—and this planner—helped find the right schedule for you!

Would you share your results?

I’d love to see what ChatGPT comes up with for your team. If you’re comfortable sharing your results, you can email them to me. I promise to keep them anonymous and unidentifiable if I write about this experiment.

⁠

Copy & Share with Alex

⁠

Just press this button to open an email message to me; hit paste (Cmd-V or Ctrl-V) and your prompt and result will pop rig ht into the body of the email. (The button copies your prompt & result when it opens the email.) Here’s what you’ll be sharing:

PROMPT:

You are the scheduling coordinator for an organization that has moved to a hybrid model where some employees spend some of their time working remotely. It is your job to advise individual departments and teams on how to set up hybrid schedules that specific which days each person on the team will work remotely, and which days each employee will be on-site at the office/workplace (either for the whole day or a portion). You need to come up with a 5-day-a-week schedule that will be the same for each person, each week.

I’m going to provide you with guidance from the team manager that should inform the schedule you develop. Once you have reviewed these guidelines, I will ask you for a hybrid schedule and planning notes in a specific form.This is a

⁠

team made up of

⁠

team members. The manager of this team wants the team to work on a hybrid plan, and has asked you to come up with a schedule for which days each person on the team will be in the office (either for the whole day or a portion). You need to come up with a 5-day-a-week schedule that will be the same for each week.

Here's what the manager of the team has provided in the way of guidance:

I want each person on the team to come into the office at least

⁠

day(s) each week, and I prefer if they're each there at least

⁠

day(s) a week, but I don't want to make anyone come into the office more than

⁠

day(s) a week unless they actively want to be there, or at least, don't mind.

Our organization or department’s hybrid policy states that

employees need to spend at least 2 days on-site each week

⁠

Everybody on the team needs to have a one-on-one meeting with me at least

once every week or two

⁠

, and

I prefer in-person meetings

⁠

. I want to accommodate my team members' personal circumstances, but not at the expense of our ability to work as a team.

While we have access to

⁠

meeting room(s) that can fit the whole team and

⁠

room(s) that can fit up to four people for a meeting, we only have

⁠

private desk(s) for people to use when they need to get work done in between meetings.

There should be at least

⁠

team members in the office on any given weekday,

even if

⁠

it’s a day we’ve designated as meeting-free.

As much as possible, I want people who work closely together to have more time in the office together, and to coordinate their schedules so they're in on the same days. I'd love to identify at least

two half-days or one full day

⁠

when we agree not to schedule any meetings as a team, so there needs to be at least that much time where nobody needs to meet.

Here's what you need to know about how the people on the team work together, as well as their circumstances and preferences: Rob has 1 or 2 hours a week in meetings that include people outside our team.

Ravi needs 6 to 10 hours a week with Rob. Ravi has 1 or 2 hours a week in meetings that include people outside our team.

Lara needs 3 to 5 hours a week with Rob, and 3 to 5 hours a week with Ravi. Lara has 3 to 5 hours a week in meetings that include people outside our team.

Kendra needs 1 or 2 hours a week with Rob, 11-16 hours a week with Ravi, and 6 to 10 hours a week with Lara. Kendra has 1 or 2 hours a week in meetings that include people outside our team.

Moss needs no regular time with Rob, no regular time with Ravi, 3 to 5 hours a week with Lara, and 6 to 10 hours a week with Kendra. Moss has 1 or 2 hours a week in meetings that include people outside our team.

Erik needs no regular time with Rob, 6 to 10 hours a week with Ravi, 6 to 10 hours a week with Lara, 3 to 5 hours a week with Kendra, and 11-16 hours a week with Moss. Erik has 3 to 5 hours a week in meetings that include people outside our team.

Jing needs 1 or 2 hours a week with Rob, 3 to 5 hours a week with Ravi, 3 to 5 hours a week with Lara, 3 to 5 hours a week with Kendra, 6 to 10 hours a week with Moss, and 3 to 5 hours a week with Erik. Jing has 3 to 5 hours a week in meetings that include people outside our team.

Caela needs 1 or 2 hours a week with Rob, 1 or 2 hours a week with Ravi, 1 or 2 hours a week with Lara, 1 or 2 hours a week with Kendra, 3 to 5 hours a week with Moss, 1 or 2 hours a week with Erik, and 6 to 10 hours a week with Jing. Caela has 6 to 10 hours a week in meetings that include people outside our team.

Franco needs 1 or 2 hours a week with Rob, 11-16 hours a week with Ravi, no regular time with Lara, no regular time with Kendra, 3 to 5 hours a week with Moss, no regular time with Erik, 3 to 5 hours a week with Jing, and 3 to 5 hours a week with Caela. Franco has 1 or 2 hours a week in meetings that include people outside our team.

Ami needs no regular time with Rob, 3 to 5 hours a week with Ravi, 1 or 2 hours a week with Lara, 11-16 hours a week with Kendra, 1 or 2 hours a week with Moss, no regular time with Erik, no regular time with Jing, 1 or 2 hours a week with Caela, and 3 to 5 hours a week with Franco. Ami has no regular time in meetings that include people outside our team.FORMAT: Please provide the schedule as a table with these columns: NAME | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY | DAYS IN OFFICE

Begin each row of the schedule with a caret ^ to show it’s a new row

That final "days in office" column should calculate the number of days that each person will need to come to the office each week.

Create one row for each team member. For each team member, mark every day either "office" or "remote" depending on whether they need to be in the office that day. I am going to ask you for these rows one at a time.

[last row] TEAM MEMBERS ON SITE [summary row]: The last row of the table should calculate how many team members will be in the office on each day of the week. The first column should read “Team members on-site” and then each column in the row should calculate how many team members will be in the office on that day of the week. The final column in this row should repeat the first column, and read “ Team members on-site”. Finish that column with a pile | ~ [ie a pipe then a tilde]

Just like the other rows in this table, this last summary row should begin with ^ (but do not place ^ anywhere else in the table or in your response) and separate each day of the week with a | (but do not use | anywhere else in your response)

PUT A ~ DELIMITER AFTER THE TABLE.

Then provide the following information, with more delimiters as follows:

“Meeting-free windows:” [show which full day(s) or half-days we will have as meeting-free windows for the whole team]

Bullets that note any situation where the number of hours two team members will be in the office together is less than the total number of hours they need to meet each week. They will need to spend these hours together via online meeting instead.

notes that explain the reasoning behind the schedule as well as any circumstances the manager should be aware of.

Any guidelines the manager or team should keep in mind to ensure the success of their hybrid plan._____

RESULT:

^Name^Monday^Tuesday^Wednesday^Thursday^Friday^Days in Office

^Rob^Office^Remote^Remote^Remote^Remote^1

^Ravi^Office^Office^Remote^Remote^Remote^2

^Lara^Remote^Office^Office^Remote^Remote^2

^Kendra^Remote^Remote^Office^Office^Remote^2

^Moss^Remote^Remote^Remote^Office^Office^2

^Erik^Remote^Remote^Office^Office^Office^3

^Jing^Remote^Remote^Office^Office^Office^3

^Caela^Remote^Remote^Remote^Remote^Remote^0

^Franco^Office^Remote^Remote^Remote^Remote^1

^Team members on-site^2|1|1|2|2|~

Meeting-free windows: Every Friday afternoon, and Wednesday mornings until noon will be meeting-free windows for the whole team.

The team has been encouraged to coordinate schedules as much as possible, meaning that individuals who work closely together will have more in-office time together. There are a few instances where two team members have less overlap in the office than they require to sync on work, but they have both agreed to accommodate using virtual meeting options.

This schedule is balanced to ensure that each team member is in the office for two days each week, while adhering to the policy of at least two days a week spent in the office for all employees. The team will have designated time for meeting-free work to ensure that everyone has ample opportunity to complete their tasks.

The team should keep in mind the critical nature of face-to-face time when working on collaborative projects, and maximize in-office days together as much as possible.

There are no rows in this table

⁠

Want to print your doc?
This is not the way.

Try clicking the ⋯ next to your doc name or using a keyboard shortcut (

CtrlP

) instead.