Tasks Not Scheduling Where You Expect? Here's What's Actually Happening
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Note: This article assumes you've read "Why Tasks Look Different on the Calendar (Task States & Task Types)". If you haven't, we recommend starting there for foundational concepts.
Motion's algorithm has a simple mode of operation; you input the essential information related to your task(s) and Motion handles the rest.
When tasks show up at weird times or places, it's usually because Motion’s algorithm doesn't have the complete picture. With that said, most, if not all, scheduling confusions can be fixed by giving Motion more information or simply by adjusting settings you might not know exist.
In this article we will cover the common scheduling confusions our customers experience and how to remedy them. Let’s dive in!
[To learn more about Motion's scheduling algorithm click here].
Motion’s AI algorithm is highly intelligent and operates precisely on the information you provide it. Simply provide the AI with your task parameters and our auto-scheduling algorithm uses the context of your calendar events, custom schedules, as well as all your auto-scheduled tasks to create the most efficient and effective schedule possible.
Here's the thing - Motion’s AI operates on the information you provide it; it’s not an all seeing eye. It doesn't know that while you currently have a task scheduled to "Write quarterly report,” you're actually reorganizing the garage right now. It doesn't know traffic is terrible on Thursdays so your "Client meeting prep" really needs to happen earlier.
It only knows the task information you provide it through the task modal; which means sometimes there's a disconnect between what you expect to have happen and what actually happens.
One of the most common support tickets we receive is when customers have a prior obligation at the same time a task is scheduled. Let’s say you have a task called "Review project proposal" scheduled for 2pm, but you know you’re actually going to be in a team brainstorming session at that time - but simply haven't had a chance to add it to your calendar yet. Motion doesn't know about this conflict because you haven't told it. Without that calendar event, Motion sees this as perfectly good free time to schedule your task.
The fix is simple - add the event. When you add that "Team brainstorming session" from 2-3pm, Motion immediately sees this scheduled event and adjusts your tasks around it. It would take that "Review project proposal" task and finds a new home for it later that day or week; at a time that doesn't conflict.
With Motion, your tasks update in real-time to shift and adapt to your busy world. In conclusion, provide Motion with all it needs to know and it will handle the rest.
Want to know more about creating events? To check out our guide click [here].
Another important calendar setting that sometimes confuses customers is the ‘Free’ vs ‘Busy’ status on events.
Here's the deal: when you mark an event as "Free," you're telling Motion "this is just for my reference, but you can still schedule tasks at this time." Therefore, Motion will see these events but won't treat them as blocked time, and will schedule tasks during that time, even though there is technically an event on the calendar.
However, marking an event as "Busy," is like putting up a wall around that timeframe. Motion won't schedule any tasks during these times, period. A busy event tells Motion, this is important and I will be attending, therefore I don’t have any time for other tasks.”
This becomes super important with recurring events. Let's say you have a weekly team check-in that sometimes gets canceled. If it's marked as "Free," Motion will keep scheduling tasks during that time, which might be exactly what you want. However, if it's "Busy," that time is blocked every week, no exceptions.
Check your events' Free/Busy status if you're seeing unexpected overlaps or blocked times.
[To learn about free vs busy events in Motion click here].
This is another very common area of confusion for Motion customers. Let’s say you open your calendar Monday morning and notice something weird: no tasks at all scheduled for the day.
In these instances, almost every time, there's an all-day busy event lurking in your calendar impacting your task scheduling abilities; one that you might not even remember adding. These all-day busy events are powerful. An all-day event marked as "busy," is essentially a "do not disturb" sign for your entire day. Anytime Motion’s AI sees that all-day busy event, it thinks "they are busy all day and nothing else will be scheduled today."
(Demo depicts the creation of an All-Day Busy event’s impact on existing tasks)
In this instance, your deadlines are the puppet masters here. Nothing else comes close to having the impact on overall task scheduling that deadlines do. When you've got a task called "Update website content" scheduled for Monday, but its deadline isn't until Friday, that's an example of Motion’s AI being proactive. It's seeing free time early in the week and thinking "hey, you’ve got some availability today, so better to get this done now in case something comes up later."
Well what about the reverse? Say you've got "Client presentation prep" scheduled for Thursday, but you really need it done by Tuesday for an internal review. Motion doesn't know about that internal review unless you tell it through the deadline. The moment you update that deadline to Tuesday, Motion reshuffles everything to ensure your task is completed by the required deadline.
[To dive deeper into Motion's deadline management click here].
Schedule issues can get weird when your working hours don't match reality. Perhaps you set up a typical 9AM-5PM schedule when you started using Motion, then switched to a 11AM-7PM for a period, and now you're back to 9AM-5PM.
Well that’s all good as long as you remember to update your Motion schedule to match your current schedule. Motion will continue to operate on the old schedule until you manually update it. So, in the example above, you might see tasks popping up at 6pm because Motion still thinks that's part of your workday scheduling time.
When you spot a task scheduled for wonky hours like midnight or 5am, there's usually one culprit: hard deadlines.
That "Finalize board presentation" task showing up at midnight isn't a bug - it's Motion taking your hard deadline seriously. Really seriously. Like "I will schedule this at midnight if that's what it takes" seriously.
Hard deadlines tell Motion "this must be done by this exact deadline no matter what," and Motion will break its normal rules to make it happen.
Motion's algorithm is smart, but it needs the proper input data to operate at its best. Most "weird" scheduling comes down to missing information, incorrect settings, calendar misconfigurations, or deadline/priority conflicts. Fix these, and your schedule should look exactly how you’d expect.
Still having issues? Contact Motion support! Click here to learn more.