{"id":272,"date":"2026-07-14T10:53:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T17:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/?post_type=docs&#038;p=272"},"modified":"2026-07-14T10:53:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T17:53:29","slug":"how-the-scheduler-thinks","status":"publish","type":"docs","link":"https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/docs\/studifoca\/concepts\/how-the-scheduler-thinks\/","title":{"rendered":"How the scheduler thinks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once an assignment has a breakdown, scheduling answers one question: which day does each step&#8217;s work actually land on?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Working backward from the due date, forward from today<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Give the scheduler a <strong>Starting<\/strong> date, and it distributes the remaining steps across the days between there and the due date \u2014 in order, respecting each step&#8217;s block size, so a 3-block step isn&#8217;t quietly squeezed into the same day as two other steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"308\" class=\"wp-image-326\" style=\"width: 150px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/steps_04_schedule_sheet-scaled.png\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/steps_04_schedule_sheet-scaled.png 1248w, https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/steps_04_schedule_sheet-146x300.png 146w, https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/steps_04_schedule_sheet-499x1024.png 499w, https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/steps_04_schedule_sheet-768x1576.png 768w, https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/steps_04_schedule_sheet-749x1536.png 749w, https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/steps_04_schedule_sheet-998x2048.png 998w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><br>Starting Oct 14, 2026 \u2014 the scheduler works out how to spread seven steps across the days remaining before the paper is due Oct 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It doesn&#8217;t try to spread work perfectly evenly, and it isn&#8217;t aware of your other courses&#8217; deadlines when it places a step \u2014 it&#8217;s solving one assignment&#8217;s steps against one assignment&#8217;s due date. Where multiple assignments&#8217; steps land on the same day is exactly what the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/docs\/studifoca\/concepts\/the-agenda-view\/\">workload heat map<\/a> is for: seeing the collision after the fact, rather than the scheduler trying to prevent it before you&#8217;ve even looked at the week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What &#8220;scheduled&#8221; changes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A scheduled step shows up on your Agenda on the day it&#8217;s assigned to, alongside your classes and anything else due that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"308\" class=\"wp-image-327\" style=\"width: 150px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/steps_05_agenda_after_schedule-scaled.png\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/steps_05_agenda_after_schedule-scaled.png 1248w, https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/steps_05_agenda_after_schedule-146x300.png 146w, https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/steps_05_agenda_after_schedule-499x1024.png 499w, https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/steps_05_agenda_after_schedule-768x1576.png 768w, https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/steps_05_agenda_after_schedule-749x1536.png 749w, https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/steps_05_agenda_after_schedule-998x2048.png 998w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><br>Tuesday, Oct 20 \u2014 a class meeting alongside two scheduled steps from two different assignments, sitting together the way the actual day will feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nothing about the step itself changes \u2014 it&#8217;s still worth the same number of blocks, still checked off the same way. Scheduling just answers <em>when<\/em>, so the breakdown stops being an undifferentiated list and starts being a plan for the week you&#8217;re about to have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Clearing the start date undoes the placement, not the breakdown \u2014 the steps go back to being unscheduled, still there, still gradable as done or not done, just not tied to a particular day anymore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":156,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_is_vendor_doc":"0","footnotes":""},"doc_tag":[],"class_list":["post-272","docs","type-docs","status-publish","hentry"],"blocksy_meta":[],"comment_count":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/docs"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":365,"href":"https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/272\/revisions\/365"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/156"}],"next":[{"title":"Reminders & notification levels","link":"https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/docs\/studifoca\/concepts\/reminders-notification-levels\/","href":"https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/179"}],"prev":[{"title":"Blocks and steps","link":"https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/docs\/studifoca\/concepts\/blocks-and-steps\/","href":"https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"doc_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quixoticraindrop.com\/software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_tag?post=272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}