Understanding the Resolve Issues Box

In Motion, the Resolve Issues Box is an integral tool designed to alert you when certain tasks are scheduled beyond their set deadlines, or couldn't fit into your schedule. This guide will clarify how it works and provide ways to use it effectively for task management.

Motion's Scheduling Algorithm

Motion's scheduling algorithm, harnessing AI, allocates your tasks based on multiple factors like due date, start date, priority, deadline type, and more. At times, due to over-scheduling or constraints in time, some tasks might get scheduled beyond their deadlines, or go unscheduled at all.

The Resolve Issues Box

For instance, if it's Monday and you're working a 40-hour week, but you've slated 50 hours of tasks to complete by Friday. In this scenario, there are 10 hours of tasks that won't fit within your available work week, resulting in certain tasks being scheduled beyond their due dates. This is where the Resolve Issues Box becomes critical.

Tasks that go into the Resolve Issues Box:

• Past due tasks. Due to scheduling constraints or other factors, the task was rescheduled for a different day. Past-due tasks have a red exclamation mark ❗.

• Could not fit recurring tasks. Due to various constraints, the task cannot be scheduled within the rolling auto-schedule window. Could not fit recurring tasks have a red exclamation mark ❗and cycle arrows 🔄, and are also pinned at the top of the calendar.

The Resolve Issues Box identifies these tasks and categorizes them based on their deadline type:

Red: Hard deadline tasks that can't fit in your schedule or tasks scheduled past the original deadline

Orange: Soft deadline tasks that can't fit in the schedule or tasks scheduled past the original deadline

Addressing Issues

As a user, you have five options to address these issues:

1. Do ASAP

Schedule the task before all other tasks. This effectively increases the task's priority in the scheduling algorithm.

Example: Alex, a marketing manager, has a task to develop a new marketing plan due Friday. It's now Thursday, and the task is scheduled for next Monday, thus appearing in the Resolve Issues Box. Alex clicks on "Do ASAP,” boosting this task's priority. The scheduling algorithm then recalculates and slots the task for completion today.

2. Meet Deadline

Turn on hard deadline for the task. Doing so will allow Motion to force schedule the task outside the schedule.

Example: Alex has a task called “Follow up on lead” that’s initially due on Friday. However, due to scheduling issues, it could not fit into the assigned specified hours. Alex enables hard deadline and the task is then pushed outside the schedule to help him finish the task on time.

3. Extend Deadline

Push back the deadline. If a task is scheduled beyond its due date, extending the deadline effectively resolves the scheduling conflict. Options include:

• Adopting the scheduled date

• Selecting a new due date

Example: Alex has another task, reviewing the monthly marketing report, initially due on Friday but scheduled for the following Tuesday. To resolve this, Alex chooses to "Extend Deadline" and pushes it back to next Wednesday. Since the task is already scheduled for Tuesday, it's no longer behind the due date and thus is removed from the Resolve Issues Box.

4. Ignore Warning

Disregard the notice and keep the task settings as is. This option is done on a per-task basis. If it’s a recurring task, options include:

• Ignore the warning for the specific instance

• Ignore the warning for all instances

5. Turn off Auto-scheduling

This option removes the task from the calendar. Users will need to re-auto-schedule the task when they're ready to tackle it.

Example: Alex identifies a lower priority task, updating the team contact list, which is also behind its deadline. Recognizing it's not urgent, Alex decides to turn off auto-scheduling and change the task’s status when necessary, removing it from his current schedule. When ready, he will re-auto-schedule this task.

To do this:

• Click the pencil icon to open the task modal

• Toggle off the auto-scheduling switch

By utilizing the Resolve Issues Box effectively, you can manage your tasks better, ensuring critical tasks are completed on time, and your work schedule remains manageable.