The place and the kit
One van, one key, one handover room, one terminal — the constraints made of physical things.
One Van, One Key, One Terminal
The constraints made of physical objects, why they are the easiest to price and the most often misattributed, and how to find the ones hiding inside a rota.
The Handover
Why the handover decides the shift pattern more than anything else in the building, and how to tell a load-bearing overlap from an inherited one.
Where the Shift Starts From
Why the starting point of a shift is a scheduling constraint in its own right, the four variants that cost most, and what changes when the start moves.
Equipment That Decides the Shift Pattern
When a machine's cycle sets the shift length, how to tell a real process constraint from an inherited one, and what to check first.
Travel Between Sites
How travel between sites constrains a rota, why it is systematically under-planned, and the three ways a multi-site pattern goes wrong.
The Building's Opening Hours
Why the hours a building is available constrain a rota independently of what the service needs, where the two diverge, and what it costs to change either.
Physical Constraints You Can Actually Buy Out
How to build the case for removing a physical constraint, which four numbers decide it, and why these are the easiest wins available to a rota.