Bullpen overview

Plan who works toward which deadline, how many hours a week, and whether those hours cover the work.

Alpha tool. It's early and still changing: expect things to break, and keep your own copy of anything you can't lose. What alpha means

Bullpen is your team's staffing plan. You list the people, the deadlines they work toward (called packages), and the hours each person is booked each week. Bullpen then shows whether the hours before each deadline cover the work, and flags anyone booked past their week.

Who can see a plan #

A staffing plan holds colleagues' hours and time off, so only a small circle sees it.

In a firm project: only the firm's members. Guests on the project never see it. A firm member who is a viewer on the project can read the plan but not change it.
In one of your own projects: only you and the people you've made editors or admins. Viewers never see it.

Anyone outside that circle doesn't see the plan at all, not even in lists.

Narrow it inside the firm #

In a firm project, a chip in the toolbar reads In (the project) · Everyone in the firm. Click it to open Who can see this plan:

Everyone in the firm on this project: the default.
Firm admins only: the firm's owners and admins, and the plan's author.
Firm admins and people I pick: those, plus the people you tick.

Only the firm's owners and admins, or the plan's author, can change this. In one of your own projects there's nothing to narrow, so the chip just reads owner and editors.

A plan is never shared live. You share it with snapshot links only, and each new link gets its own PIN. Only the plan's author, or the firm's (or project's) owners and admins, can turn links on.

The main screen #

From top to bottom:

The toolbar: Project ▾ (where the plan is saved), the plan's name, Plan ▾, the who-can-see chip (or Local draft), New, Import, Export ▾, and Share / Snapshots last on the right.
The view bar: the page tabs, the weeks shown, one package, the people in focus, and Show ▾. See The view bar.
The page you picked.
Checks on the right. Click Hide checks › to fold them into a slim rail that still shows the counts. See Checks.

The four pages are:

Team: one card per person, then the roster and time off. See Team and people.
Staffing: the week-by-week grid of hours, with the schedule chart on top. See Staffing grid.
Micro details: a two-week board of who does what, day by day. See Micro details.
Report: a printable report you build from blocks. See Report.

The view bar #

Every page reads the same view bar, so switching pages keeps what you picked.

Weeks shown: Next 2 weeks, Next month, Next 3 months or Full project. Micro details always shows two weeks, and each Report block picks its own range, so the buttons gray out there.
One package: pick a package to narrow every page to it. Every package (or the ×) goes back.
People: pick groups and people to focus on. A bar then says who's in focus, with Hide them or Gray them out for everyone else, and Show everyone to clear it. The report always leaves the others out.
Show ▾: how the plan draws.

Names: Full name, First name + last initial or Initials, and how many Last-name letters. The roster always keeps full names. If two people would read the same, they get more letters.
On every page: Level codes beside names, Month lines, and faint Day lines.
Team cards: whether the cards show Packages, Tasks and Time off.

Names, codes and lines are saved with the plan, so the report and snapshot links read the same. The Team cards choices are remembered on this device only.

Start a new staffing plan #

From a project page #

On a firm project, or one of your own, click + New ▾. Click Bullpen for a blank plan, or Sample staffing plan under it. The plan is saved in that project from the start. See Projects and schemes.

From inside Bullpen #

On Bullpen's home page, under Start fresh:

+ Blank: no people or deadlines yet.
Sample plan: a made-up team of four and two deadlines, to try things out.

New in the toolbar also starts an empty plan. If the plan on screen is only on this computer, it's replaced, so export a copy first if you want to keep it.

Save it to a project #

A new plan is a Local draft on this computer. To keep it and share it with your team:

Click Project ▾, then Save to a project….
Pick a firm project or one of your own. The project that holds the linked schedule is marked holds the linked schedule.
Click Save. Or type a name under Or a new project and click Create & save.

From then on it saves as you work. Project ▾ also has Save a new cloud version. See Saving and versions.

Open existing work #

Bullpen's home page lists the staffing plans in your projects. Click one to open it.
Project ▾ lists your other plans too, each with the project it's in.
Import opens a staffing plan file (.bullpen.json). It replaces the plan on screen. If that plan was saved in a project, the project keeps its copy.

Pull a plan out of a project #

Under Project ▾:

Pull out — keep the project's copy: this computer gets a Local draft; the project keeps the plan as it is.
Pull out — remove from the project: the plan leaves the project entirely, and this computer keeps a Local draft.

Export #

Export ▾ has:

Bullpen file (.bullpen.json): the whole plan. Open it again with Import.
CSV spreadsheet: hours per person per week, load and time off, for Excel.
Print / Save as PDF: prints the Report.

If you can only view the plan, some of these are grayed out. See Exports.

AI assistants #

An AI assistant connected through the AI connector can read a staffing plan, but not change it, and only when you're in the plan's circle.