I used to run my crew with paper schedules and sticky notes

About 5 years back, I was still printing out weekly job sheets for my tree service crew every Monday morning. It was fine when we had just 3 guys and a couple jobs a day. But once we hit 5 crews and 15 guys, things started falling through the cracks. Clients would call asking about arrival times and I'd be digging through paper to find the answer. Last spring, a big storm hit our area in Raleigh and we had 30 calls in one day. I finally switched to a shared digital calendar app with real time updates. Now every foreman gets job details pushed to their phone and I can see exactly where each truck is. The first week was rough getting everyone to check their phones instead of their clipboards, but now I can't imagine going back. Has anyone else made a similar shift away from paper and found it harder than expected to get the team on board?

3 comments

3 Comments

wren82611d ago

Yeah we had the same thing with the crew fighting it at first. The older guys wanted their paper copies and I had to show them how much faster it was to just pull up the app than call me. Took about two weeks but now nobody even asks for the printouts anymore.

andrewt418d ago

The app thing works fine until your phone takes a dirt nap, which is pretty common on work sites. @brookerobinson makes a good point about dead batteries, but the real trick is keeping a backup battery pack in your truck so you never get stuck. Most guys I know use those cheap Anker packs and they last all day, even in bad weather.

brookerobinson11d ago

Honestly I think paper worked fine and we switched way too fast. There's something about having a physical sheet in your hand that a phone screen can't replace. When we tried digital, guys missed jobs because their phones died or they forgot to charge them overnight. And good luck getting a signal in the woods to pull up directions when you're covered in sawdust. At least with paper you can write notes in the margins and hand it off to the next guy without worrying about battery life. Sometimes the old ways stick around for a reason.