Schedule

For other uses, see Schedule (disambiguation).
"Scheduler" and "Timetable" redirect here. For other uses, see Scheduler (disambiguation) and Timetable (disambiguation).
A volunteer adjusts the schedule board at Wikimania 2007. The board indicates the times and locations at which events will take place, thus assisting participants in deciding which events they can attend.
A train schedule informs travelers of the trains going to various locations, and indicates the times of departure.
Hours of operation posted at a FEMA office following a disaster inform the public of when FEMA employees will be available to assist them.
A weekly work schedule indicates which employees of a business are going to work at which times, to ensure the effective distribution of labor resources.

A schedule or a timetable, as a basic time-management tool, consists of a list of times at which possible tasks, events, or actions are intended to take place, or of a sequence of events in the chronological order in which such things are intended to take place. The process of creating a schedule — deciding how to order these tasks and how to commit resources between the variety of possible tasks — is called scheduling,[1][2] and a person responsible for making a particular schedule may be called a scheduler. Making and following schedules is an ancient human activity.[3]

Some scenarios associate this kind of planning with learning life skills.[4][5] Schedules are necessary, or at least useful, in situations where individuals need to know what time they must be at a specific location to receive a specific service, and where people need to accomplish a set of goals within a set time.

Schedules can usefully span both short periods, such as a daily or weekly schedule, and long-term planning for periods of several months or years.[6] They are often made using a calendar, where the person making the schedule can note the dates and times at which various events are planned to occur. Schedules that do not set forth specific times for events to occur may instead list algorithmically an expected order in which events either can or must take place.

In some situations, schedules can be uncertain, such as where the conduct of daily life relies on environmental factors outside human control.[7] People who are vacationing or otherwise seeking to reduce stress and achieve relaxation may intentionally avoid having a schedule for a certain period of time.[8]

  1. ^ See Hojjat Adeli, Asim Karim, Construction Scheduling, Cost Optimization and Management (2003), p. 54.
  2. ^ Ofer Zwikael, John Smyrk, Project Management for the Creation of Organisational Value (2011), p. 196: "The process is called scheduling, the output from which is a timetable of some form".
  3. ^ James, C. Renée (15 September 2014). Science Unshackled. Johns Hopkins University Press (published 2014). p. 14. ISBN 978-1421415000. This obsession with timekeeping isn't anything new, though. Ancient schedules revolved around annual, seasonal, monthly, or daily rhythms, and innumerable examples of timekeeping structures and rock carvings from these early cultures still pepper our planet in famous places like Stonehenge in Wiltshire County, England, and in less famous places like the V-V Ranch Petroglyph site near Sedona, Arizona.
  4. ^ Kohl Coston, Phyllis (August 2013). Celebration of Success. Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse (published 2013). p. 26. ISBN 9781491802311. Retrieved 2014-09-02. [Allison] and Evan believe this kind of planning teaches responsibility and consideration for others as well as helping the boys learn life skills such as time management, the importance of being a team member, and ownership of calendar details.
  5. ^ Karniol, Rachel (12 April 2010). Social Development as Preference Management: How Infants, Children, and Parents Get What They Want from One Another. Cambridge University Press (published 2010). p. 129. ISBN 978-1139484008. [P]arents have agendas that dictate how they prioritize their own behavior. These agendas necessarily require them to plan and set up schedules and children's preferences may play a subsidiary role in these schedules.
  6. ^ Dennis Coon, John Mitterer, Psychology: Modules for Active Learning (2007), p. 7.
  7. ^ In this case they are referred to as Stochastic scheduling. Compare some aspects of hunter-gatherer society: Lee, Richard B. (1998). "What hunters do for a living, or, how to make out on scarce resources". In Gowdy, John (ed.). Limited Wants, Unlimited Means: A Reader On Hunter-Gatherer Economics And The Environment. Island Press. p. 52. ISBN 9781559635554. Retrieved 2014-09-09. The hunters[' ...] schedule is uneven. it is not unusual for a man to hunt avidly for a week and then do no hunting at all for two or three weeks. Since hunting is an unpredictable business and subject to magical control, hunters sometimes experience a run of bad luck and stop hunting for a month or longer. During these periods, visiting, entertaining, and especially dancing are the primary activities of men.
  8. ^ Kelly Turner, "Health Nut: Working out on Vacation Archived 2014-11-04 at the Wayback Machine", OutdoorsNW.com (2014): "Traveling is all about packing a bag and setting out on an adventure with no itinerary, no appointments and no schedule. Vacations are a time to relax and take a time out from your daily responsibilities".