Skip to content
allanninal.dev/build
Collaborate

Part 2 of 7 · Shift swap broker series ~5 min read

How a shift gets offered up

Giving up a shift has to be as easy as sending a message to the group, or people will send a message to the group. Everything in this step is in service of that, plus one genuinely important boundary: the point at which a request stops being a swap.

Key takeaways

  • Two taps: pick the shift from your own rota, confirm.
  • A reason is optional and never shown to colleagues, only to the manager.
  • Before the cut-off it is a swap. After it, it is an absence and takes a different path.
  • A shift can be withdrawn until somebody accepts it, and not after.
  • Nobody can offer up somebody else’s shift.

Two taps

The screen shows your own next fortnight from the rota. Tap a shift, confirm, done. There is no form, no reason required and no approval to make the request — asking to swap is not something anybody needs permission for.

How a shift is offered up for swappingA vertical chain of five steps entered by a box labelled Tap a shift, from your own rota. Step one asks whether it is yours, determined from the rota rather than from the form; if not it exits to Refused, because nobody offers up somebody else's shift. Step two asks whether it is before the cut-off, for example twenty-four hours, read from the rules sheet; if not it exits to This is an absence, which tells the manager directly. Step three offers an optional reason, visible to the manager and never to colleagues. Step four runs eligibility before anybody is told. Step five sends the offers out in order. A note says the cut-off is not bureaucracy, because a swap and an absence need different responses.AWS ACCOUNTTap a shiftfrom your own rotaIs it yours?from the rota, not the formRefusednobody offers upsomebody else's shiftnoBefore the cut-off?e.g. 24 hoursRules sheetthe cut-offThis is an absencetell the manager directlynoOptional reasonmanager only, never staffRun eligibilitybefore anybody is toldOffers go outin orderThe cut-off is not bureaucracy. A swap and an absence need different responses.
Fig 1. How a shift is offered up. The cut-off check is the important one: past it, the honest answer is that this is no longer a swap and pretending otherwise wastes hours.
  • App integration
  • Security & identity
  • Management
  • Analytics
  • Front-end & mobile

Why the reason is optional

Requiring a reason to swap a shift changes what the request is. It turns a peer arrangement into a permission request, and it invites a manager to evaluate reasons, which is a much worse job than evaluating swaps. Most people give one anyway, because it feels polite, and that is fine.

When a reason is given it goes to the manager on the approval message and never to colleagues. “Rae is covering Ash’s Thursday” is all anybody else needs, and it is also all anybody else is entitled to.

The cut-off

Somewhere between twelve and forty-eight hours before a shift, depending on your business, a swap request stops being a swap request. Not because of a rule, but because the process no longer fits: there is not time for an offer loop, the people who might cover are already at work or asleep, and what is actually happening is that somebody cannot come in.

The point at which a swap request becomes an absenceA horizontal row of five boxes. Seven days out: an ordinary swap. Forty-eight hours: still a swap. The cut-off: twenty-four hours, say. Inside it: an absence rather than a swap. Different path: straight to the manager. A note says running an offer loop three hours before a shift wastes the three hours.WHERE A SWAP BECOMES AN ABSENCE7 days outordinary swap48 hoursstill a swapThe cut-off24 hours, sayInside itan absence, not a swapDifferent pathstraight to the managerRunning an offer loop three hours before a shift wastes the three hours.
Fig 2. The boundary between a swap and an absence. Naming it explicitly prevents the failure where an offer loop is still running while a shift starts.
  • App integration
  • Management
  • People

Inside the cut-off, the app says so plainly and hands off: “This is less than 24 hours away, so it goes straight to your manager rather than out for swaps.” The manager gets a message immediately with the same eligibility list attached, so they can ring somebody rather than work out who to ring.

Withdrawing

A shift can be withdrawn until somebody accepts it, and not afterwards. That asymmetry is deliberate: a person who has accepted a shift has rearranged their day around it, and letting the original person take it back with a tap makes accepting a shift feel risky. After acceptance, a withdrawal is a conversation with the manager, which is correct because it is now two people’s problem.

Next: the four eligibility checks, in detail.

All posts