Forecast

Overview

Forecast is a tool that allows you to plan out your team’s time. It is integrated with our Harvest data, so when we project what people will be working on, the relevant Harvest projects can see that data, and contain projections for how the work will play out based on it.

Use For...

✅ Planning time for your projects and understanding budget statuses and risks

✅ Understanding what your personal schedule will look like over the next week or two

Don’t Use For...

⛔️ Full project work breakdowns (Use Asana milestones)

Why we use it

Forecast is old and clunky but we stick with it because it is straightforward to use and understand, and it integrates nicely with Harvest. We eventually plan to do our planning in Asana instead, but while we are still transitioning to Asana we still need a separate tool.

How we use it

Each week we have a Forecast meeting. Prior to that meeting, all project managers should project time usage for all their projects in Forecast. During the meeting we discuss any inaccuracies or misunderstandings between the managers. Then we look at the schedule for each team member. If a team member has too few or too many hours for the next week, we make plans to adjust it. Each project manager has a specific color in Forecast so it is easy to tell which projects should be yours.