Ever been told that you fly by the seat of your pants? The best machine operators have a knack for this. The expression is derived from early aviation when tools were so rudimentary that many decisions came from the physical feeling of being in an aircraft. Not anymore.
Angie gave us a sign of things to come in a recent blog post on how we are building the tools for a seamless, organized thruway to orders being fulfilled in your business. This all starts with the foundation of getting numbers and math out of your notebooks, and into the ecosystem of your growing business.
With Sam and I roasting up a storm this Summer, it is naturally down to us to test workflow, and bestow our tips and tricks. These are our top three methods of getting our Roast Plan set into motion.
WHITEBOARD IT OUT
Roast Plan gives you the option to keep it simple and select no roast references. As Sam and I were trying to figure out why this would be an option, it became clear that it felt a lot like the white board Sam and I stationed next to our roasters for planning the day. Keep it simple, make your list, and worry about finding a profile later.
When Plans are pulled into the RoastPATH application, you can select what batches you want to work on in whatever order you choose, and then filter through your profiles like normal for the underlay you want to work with.
CREATE A PLAN FROM PROFILES
If you prefer to reference multiple profiles at a time to make a selection on what you work from, visiting the profiles list and filtering coffees may be your way to go. Selecting coffees this way will pull your profile up as an underlay, helping to eliminate the spelunking for profile references in the application.
To do this, visit the profiles section in your portal, check the coffee you would like to have added and select, “Add to Roast Plan,” from the drop down. You can then manage those selections from your Roast Plan, or work through them in the RoastPATH application.
DUPLICATE, DUPLICATE, DUPLICATE
If the details of planning out a job sounds like a lot of steps, eventually it won’t be! You are able to duplicate past Plans, and if you use static batch sizes for certain coffees, your daily Roast Plan can be set up in no time at all.
From your roast plan, select the coffees you want to duplicate. They can be completed or incompleted tasks. Duplicate them by selecting the icon below, “New Task,” and a Plan will be added to your list.
PLANNING FOR VISIBILITY
Flying by the seat of your pants can be a real strength, but it can also be an Achilles heel. Roast planning is here to build on the process of a once solitary position, and make it more visible. After locking down these planning skills, you will be off to races with the next big thing in RoastPATH.
