Hi there, just reaching out to see if anyone working for a Creative agency is struggling with the Workload balancer when it comes to creatives viewing the work they have on? I am unable to find a simplified or visual view.

[TammyWe]

Your question jumped out at me because we are a creative agency within a university and we are really struggling with the time it takes to make the Workload Balancer anywhere near accurate. Our creatives want flexibility and don't want to be expected to work on projects in prescribed blocks of time. If we assign a task for 5 hours and give a 1-week duration, Workfront spaces it out with 1 hour per day for the user. But creatives don't work like that. Our project managers are spending a huge amount of time trying to keep up with what everyone is working on (or not) on any given day so they can move hours around in the project so that the Workload Balancer is as close to reality as possible. It's not uncommon for us to think someone has capacity, per the Workload Balancer, only to find out that they are swamped. Would really love to talk to someone else at a creative agency to see how they accurately account for creative time and if they are relying on the Workload Balancer to assess capacity and make assignments. Also, how the project manager(s) keeps up with what the creatives are doing day to day.

[ChristieSi]

Hi @Tammy Weaver-Stoike‚ I would love to connect and have a discussion about this if that works for you. I really would love to connect with another agency to discuss our current issues and see if there are any solves. What would be the best way to book in some time to chat this through? Also thank you for replying its nice to know I'm not alone with this one.

[kynabaker16]

I love that you guys are discussing things like this! Just so you guys know that if you don't want to share email addresses publicly in the community threads to set up time to meet, you can directly message another user on here by going to their profile and finding the "message" button toward the top.

[ChristieSi]

Thank you so much Kyna that is really helpful!

[CalvinFold]

I just hope you can come back to this thread with learnings, as we have a similar challenge and was looking forward to the info/discussion being in-forum. :-(

[ChristieSi]

Thanks Kevin me too! If we come up with a solve will definitely put it in this post. Also happy to connect with you if you would like to possibly talk through any solves.

[TammyWe]

Hi Kevin, I'm going to set up a time to meet with Christie so we can discuss this challenge in-depth. I can include you in the meeting invite if you'd like. If you'd like to do that, just message me with your email address and I'll reach out to get everyone's availability.

[RandyRoberts]

We've struggled with it as well but we're not technically a creative agency. We have a large creative department but isn't just creatives that struggle with it.

Anyone, not just creatives, who has a 5 hour task with a week to do it will ever spend 1 hour a day on it like the balancer says. They may split it up over 2 days or just do it all in one day but never 1 hour a day for 5 days. I don't believe it reflects how people really work.

I think the balancer is an OK weather vane sort of tool. You can see which way the wind is blowing but not how fast, how hot or cold or how wet.

[ChristieSi]

Thanks @Randy Roberts‚ for your comments. We find it holds a higher level view for producers, directors and resource managers however our creatives are struggling. There is no simple view that is easy to digest. A few of us are going to meet up to discuss these issues. If we come up with any type of solution we will share on this thread.

[MartaSo]

Hi, we are struggling with Workfront Balancer as well. Our creative studio refused to move from the Scheduler and we are looking at building our own scheduling tool or integrating WF with another resourcing tool. @Kyna Baker - inactive‚ can Workfront address those issues? I've raised this a few times with my account manager but nothing really happened. WF Balancer is ok but it feels like it's not fully developed yet, would love if Workfront could leave Workfront Scheduler alone instead of replacing it. We will miss the easy calendar view our users love.

[kynabaker16]

Hi Marta,

I have passed this thread along to the product manager of the Workload Balancer! I know they are actively working on improvements, so thank you for passing along your feedback.

Kyna

[ChristineZh]

Marta, we felt the same way when we tried to implement the workload balancer in our in-house creative agency. After vetting several RM tools, we ended up going with Harvest Forecast because it was intuitive and simple. There are a lot of features that Forecast has that the Workload Balancer could benefit from.

[EmilyCo]

I second keeping Workfront Scheduler alone instead of replacing it.

Thanks

[SusanBo]

Yes please! Any relevant solves or enhancements for this would be appreciated. My designers struggle with the same issues especially since our client services group is so small that we can't possibly be adjusting timelines to keep up with changes in projects.

[TammyWe]

Susan and Marta,

I've scheduled a Zoom call for a few of us who are struggling with the Workload Balancer -- it's today (Monday) at 3 p.m. (EST). If you'd like, I'd be happy to add you to the invite, please just provide your email address.

[SusanBo]

boses@gojo.com

[TammyWe]

Thanks Susan, I just sent you a meeting invite.

[SusanBo]

Hmmm - I did not receive

[TammyWe]

I confirmed the email in the invite is: boses@gojo.com. Is there a different email I should try?

[SusanBo]

No - that is my work address. Maybe our firewall is blocking it