Can You Just

Planning / Targets & deadlines

Friday is still Friday. The work no longer fits.

A target is a date you would like to achieve. A hard deadline records an external commitment. The forecast shows when the recorded work can finish under the current constraints.

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Give each date its proper meaning.

Projects can record a target, a hard deadline and the reason for that commitment. Date-only targets and deadlines mean the end of that day. The forecast is calculated separately; entering a deadline does not create extra working time.

See the gap instead of hiding it.

Headroom compares the forecast finish with the hard deadline in calendar hours. A forecast beyond that commitment is threatened; an already-missed commitment and an unknown completion are distinct situations. A missed target is also identified separately.

These are comparisons based on the recorded plan, not a prediction of every future disruption. Can You Just does not automatically change the commitment to make the forecast look comfortable.

Choose what to change.

An urgent fix may be the right thing to do. The useful question is what that choice means for the existing promise. Review estimates, priorities, capacity or the commitment with the people involved.

What If planning lets you inspect a proposal before applying it. A higher priority still cannot override a prerequisite or someone’s unavailable time.

A FICTIONAL SCHEDULING STORY

The deadline that cannot move

Calculated with the CYJ scheduler

Before

Alice’s two hours of release checks fit from 15:00 to the hard deadline at 17:00.

The change

A committed urgent fix reserves her first hour, from 15:00 to 16:00.

Before

Project completion: Fri 17:00

Alice
  • Release checksFri 15:00–Fri 17:00

Hard deadline: Fri 17:00Tight headroom

After

Project completion: Fri 18:00

Alice
  • Interruption · Customer export fixFri 15:00–Fri 16:00
  • Release checksFri 16:00–Fri 18:00

Hard deadline: Fri 17:00Hard deadline threatened

Example assumptions. Friday 23 October 2026. Alice works until 18:00. No priorities or dependencies are changed to hide the capacity shortfall.

THE CONSEQUENCE

The deadline creates no extra capacity. Release checks now need 16:00–18:00.

THE REVISED PLAN

The hard deadline remains Friday 17:00. Completion is forecast for 18:00: one calendar hour beyond the commitment.

Explore the model:Targets & deadlines →Can You Just interruptions →Priorities →

CONNECTED IDEAS

The rest of the story.

Can You Just interruptions A Can You Just interruption records unplanned work against a resource. Once committed, it reserves productive capacity and the scheduler recalculates the planned work that uses the time left.Priorities Priority controls how eligible planned work competes for limited resource time. Can You Just uses four levels: Critical, High, Normal and Low. Stages inherit their project’s priority.Activity & forecast history Activity records meaningful saved changes. Forecast history records meaningful observations of the schedule. Together with actual work, they help explain the gap between the original plan and what happened.

Work, time and consequences.

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