Articles
Designing the Gameplay Loop Behind Plantime
How we borrowed ideas from game design to fix one of the most annoying workflows in business
Most scheduling tools grow by accretion: a form here, a button there, a new tab because someone in support said customers want it. After a few years the product turns into a digital junk drawer. Useful things exist in there, but only a veteran knows where. This is a familiar story in software, and feature creep has been blamed for wrecking usability more times than anyone cares to count.
(The Product Manager's Guide to Feature Creep and Feature Creep Is Killing Your Software – Here's How To Stop It)
We wanted the opposite.
We wanted rhythm.
That idea pushed us straight into the world of game design rather than enterprise software.
Games face the same challenge scheduling tools should care about. Players repeat a set of actions over and over, so the loop must be clear, predictable, and satisfying. If the loop breaks, players quit. If it flows, everything feels effortless. In game design, this is the core gameplay loop, and it is the backbone of the entire experience.
(How To Design A Gameplay Loop That Keeps Players Coming Back For More and Game UI design: the mechanics of fun experiences)
Scheduling has the same rhythm baked into it. Managers go through the same motions every week or month. The problem comes when the interface does not reinforce that rhythm. Users forget what they learned because the product does not guide them through a consistent sequence.
So we asked ourselves a blunt question:
What is the actual loop of scheduling work, and how do we build the product around it so week 50 feels as clear as week one?
Finding the Loop
We started by mapping out what happens in the real world, not the polished diagrams people usually draw.
Almost every team goes through the same phases:
- Decide the time window you are planning for.
- Shape a draft schedule.
- Gather preferences and availability.
- Assign the final shifts.
- Publish and let the month unfold.
Straightforward on paper. Chaos in practice.
Most tools blur these phases. Some skip steps entirely. Buttons change meaning depending on the day, which creates cognitive noise. Research on cognitive load makes the problem obvious: unclear next steps and cluttered interfaces cause decision fatigue and task abandonment. People lose track of what they are supposed to do because the software never tells them what phase they are in.
(Cognitive Load Theory in UI Design and Cognitive Load In UX Design: Key Strategies for Reducing Extraneous Load)
So we rebuilt the workflow as a gameplay loop.
Not a flowchart.
A loop with a beginning, a middle, an end, and a clean reset.
Turning It Into a System
Once we approached the problem like game designers, the structure snapped into place.
1. Plan
Define the period and set the boundaries. Without a defined world, nothing else works.
In Plantime this is explicit. No start and end means you are in planning mode. The software never hides the ball. Reducing ambiguity is one of the simplest and most effective ways to cut cognitive load.
2. Collect
Open a structured window for submitting preferences and availability.
Managers no longer dig through chat messages or emails. The system does the asking, the reminders, and the coordination.
(How to automate repetitive tasks and grow your productivity)
3. Assign
Review, accept, override, and tweak. The human part stays small and focused.
We designed this phase around the tasks managers are genuinely good at: judgment and fairness. Automation handles the mechanical steps, freeing people to focus on decisions that actually matter.
(The Connection Between Automation and Employee Well-Being and Repetitive Tasks to Productivity)
4. Run
Publish the schedule and move into the active period.
Once the schedule is live, the team shifts from planning into execution. Everyone sees when and where they work, and the published plan becomes the source of truth for that period. This is also where real-world adjustments happen. People request leave, swap shifts, or flag conflicts, and these updates surface in a way that keeps the period running smoothly without forcing managers back into full planning mode.
The schedule stays stable, but it allows the natural churn that comes with any real workplace. Managers stay informed, workers stay aligned, and the loop maintains its clarity without becoming rigid.
When the period ends, the next one opens and the cycle begins again.
Every step is explicit. No mystery states. No silent transitions. Just a clear shift from planning to running the period.
Building the Logic
Once the loop was clear, the implementation became simple: a single source of truth for the current step.
Plantime never guesses. It computes the state from three values:
- the planning window
- whether preferences are open
- whether the schedule is published
This alone removed entire categories of bugs. More importantly, it made the workflow predictable for managers.
When interfaces behave consistently, users transfer what they learned from previous cycles. That lowers cognitive load and speeds up mastery. Anchoring the entire product to a state machine gives every screen and every action a clear purpose.
(Cognitive Load Theory in UI Design and Ease Cognitive Overload in UX Design)
Why We Did It
Enterprise tools often assume value increases with the number of features. More states, more toggles, more menus. In reality this usually leads to confusion and steep learning curves.
(The Product Manager's Guide to Feature Creep)
We wanted clarity instead of clutter.
A well-designed loop removes choices, not adds them. The tool should tell the user:
- You are here
- Next comes this
- That part is done
Once users learn the loop, it becomes muscle memory. That is how people master games, and it works just as well in scheduling tools.
Consistency is especially important in workplace software. Nobody has time for a system that needs training every week. Predictability lowers mistakes, improves adoption, and gives teams confidence that the tool will behave the same way every cycle.
(Cognitive Load In UX Design and Designing in Loops)
The Role of AI in the Loop
AI fits naturally into this structure, especially in the Assign phase.
Rather than bury the logic, we designed the system to be transparent. Scheduling affects income, fairness, and work-life balance. Teams need to understand why certain decisions were made. By showing how the algorithm considers skills, preferences, availability, and fairness rules, we build trust and reduce friction.
When people see that their input has a visible impact, they participate more honestly. Better data creates better schedules.
(Ethical AI Transparency In Employee Scheduling Decisions and Exploring nurse perspectives on AI-based shift scheduling)
Continuous Improvement
The loop gives Plantime its backbone, but the experience wrapped around it isn't frozen in time. We use behavioral data to watch how teams move through each phase—where they hesitate, where they get stuck, and where the rhythm actually breaks. This isn't about adding features based on hunches. It's about identifying real friction and smoothing the edges while keeping the core loop intact.
The Outcome We Are Aiming For
The goal is simple:
Managers spend less time orchestrating the workflow and more time reviewing a schedule that mostly builds itself.
When the loop works:
- New users understand the tool quickly. Clear structure shortens onboarding.
- Returning users feel at home. Once the loop clicks, every cycle feels familiar.
- AI can step in naturally. A known state machine gives AI context, which keeps recommendations meaningful.
- The product stays coherent as it grows. Features fit into the loop rather than pile up around it.
- Teams stop dreading schedule week. The emotional burden shifts from building to reviewing.
The Design Principle: Flow Over Features
Good games feel effortless not because they are simple, but because their loops are consistent. Once your brain internalizes the rhythm, everything else feels smooth. The same psychological principle applies to tools people use at work.
(How To Design A Gameplay Loop That Keeps Players Coming Back For More)
This is the feeling we want Plantime to have.
A scheduling tool that does not fight you.
A workflow you do not need to relearn.
A loop that respects your time.
Research Sources Referenced
Feature Creep and Enterprise Software Design
- The Product Manager's Guide to Feature Creep
- Feature Creep Is Killing Your Software – Here's How To Stop It
Game Design and Gameplay Loops
- How To Design A Gameplay Loop That Keeps Players Coming Back For More
- Game UI design: the mechanics of fun experiences
- 5 Steps to Create an Engaging Game Loop
Cognitive Load and UX Design
- Cognitive Load Theory in UI Design
- Cognitive Load In UX Design
- Ease Cognitive Overload in UX Design
- Cognitive Load and UX
Loop-Based Design
Automation and Task Efficiency
- How to automate repetitive tasks and grow your productivity
- Repetitive Tasks to Productivity
- The Connection Between Automation and Employee Well-Being