Managing your team’s time and resources can feel complex, but Productive offers a few distinct ways to plan and schedule work.
Understanding the difference between Workload, Resource Planner, and Task Scheduling helps you choose the right approach for your team.
Workload
Workload is short-term, task-based planning. It’s ideal when you want to monitor your team’s upcoming work without needing precise daily allocations.
Use Workload when:
Planning is entirely task-based and short-term
You don't need precise daily allocations
Changes are frequent and the team works week to week
There's no need for financial forecasting
Example: A PM breaks a project into tasks, assigns people with estimates and start/due dates, and the team uses Workload as a daily signal for priorities and load.
Limitations to be aware of:
Task load is always spread evenly between the start and due date — you can't specify 8 hours on Monday and 2 hours on the remaining days
No connection to budgets, deals, or financial data
Not suitable for mid- or long-term capacity planning
Workload is simple and flexible: it focuses on tasks and immediate capacity rather than budget or long-term resource planning.
Resource Planner
The Resource Planner is Productive’s core tool for top-down capacity planning. It’s used to book people across budgets or deals before tasks are fully defined. There are two ways to use it:
Scheduling on Services (Top-Down)
This method focuses on securing capacity before scoping tasks. It’s often managed by a dedicated operations or resource management function.
Use scheduling on services when:
Resourcing and financial forecasting matter (burn rate, availability)
People need to be booked before tasks are fully defined
Securing capacity in advance is a priority
A dedicated ops or resource management function owns capacity planning
Example: An ops team books a senior designer at 50% for three months on a project. The PM then works with the designer to break down the actual tasks. The booking is the source of truth for capacity — tasks sit below it.
Limitations to be aware of:
Not a task-level planning tool
Can feel abstract to PMs who are used to working from tasks
Tasks don't drive resourcing in this model
This approach is top-down: you book people first, then define the work.
Scheduling on Tasks (Bottom-Up)
This method focuses on assigning people after tasks are defined. The project is scoped through tasks and deliverables, and the PM drives planning.
Use task scheduling when:
Resourcing and financial forecasting matter (burn rate, availability)
The project is scoped through tasks and deliverables, not by assigning people first
You want precise daily load and realistic capacity per task
Workload is no longer enough, but top-down resourcing doesn't match how your team thinks
The PM drives planning from tasks, and bookings follow from there
Example: A PM scopes a project by defining all deliverables as tasks, sets durations and estimates, then books people directly from each task. The booking is derived from the task plan — not the other way around.
Limitations to be aware of:
Doesn't make sense if people are booked onto a deal or a budget before tasks are defined
Not a replacement for the Resource Planner in top-down organizations
Requires tasks to be the primary planning unit
This approach is bottom-up: you define the work first, then assign people.
Summary
Workload = quick, task-based planning without financial forecasting
Resource Planner = top-down capacity planning with financial oversight
Scheduling on services = people first, tasks later
Scheduling on tasks = tasks first, people later
By matching your planning approach to your team’s workflow, you can optimize capacity, reduce conflicts, and make sure resources are allocated realistically.
A Practical Way to Decide
Ask yourself: does my team book people before or after scoping the work?
Book people first, then define tasks → Service Scheduling
Define tasks first, then book people → Task Scheduling
No resource planning required, just task oversight → Workload