JetBlue & Overscheduling - Lessons You Can Apply

If you have been following the news at all since Friday, you are aware that JetBlue has been canceling flights and stranding passengers [For example, on Monday, the airline canceled 23 percent of its scheduled flights]. From the apology emailed to customers today:

Last week was the worst operational week in JetBlue's seven year history. Following the severe winter ice storm in the Northeast, we subjected our customers to unacceptable delays, flight cancellations, lost baggage, and other major inconveniences. The storm disrupted the movement of aircraft, and, more importantly, disrupted the movement of JetBlue's pilot and inflight crewmembers who were depending on those planes to get them to the airports where they were scheduled to serve you.

Whether or not you fly JetBlue, there is a lesson you can learn about scheduling your time. One thing I've noticed in flying JetBlue is how tightly they schedule their planes. The plane arriving at Burbank at 10 am PST left New York at 7 am EST, and as soon as the passengers deplane will board passengers for an 11 am departure back to New York. Take a look at their schedule and you'll see that the plane is in use 24 hours of the day. It may keep costs low, but there is no flex in the system; one delay ripples out to effect all subsequent flights.

Take a look at your schedule. Do you allow a bit of flex in your day, or does one delay ripple out to make you running to catch up and working late? Some examples of allowing flex would be:

• Doubling your time estimate for how long it will take you to complete a task, since most of us consistently underestimate how long it will take to complete something. [The exception would be routine task where you have measured how long it takes].
• Allowing for the inevitable interruptions in your day. Use the interruption log on my website for a week and measure what's average for you.
• Use the 10 tasks/ 8 hour rule of thumb when you plan your day. The ten tasks include interruptions, so if you average 4 interruptions a day, schedule 6 tasks for an 8 hour day.