Gravity Scheduling · a field guide

Every piece of work has two landing dates.

Glide is where the work will land, given real capacity and dependencies. Gravity is where it must land to keep a commitment. The gap between them is the earliest risk signal a program has.

Read the forces → See the orbit states

Captured Altitude of 6 working days against 38 days of runway is a ratio of 15.8%, inside the 0–20% band for Captured.

The problem

Three instruments. No shared reading.

Delivery at scale isn't limited by how fast any one team works. It's limited by coordination across interdependent work. Three things decide a delivery date, and most programs track each one in a different tool. Nothing compares them.

Agile boards

Track capacity: how fast work actually moves. They know nothing about the date leadership promised.

Roadmaps

Track commitments: what is due and when. They know nothing about real velocity.

Dependency trackers

Track dependencies: what must happen first. They are rarely used to drive the schedule itself.

Plans look valid in isolation and fail in integration. Timelines become a negotiation instead of a plan.

The model

Five forces, two measures.

Gravity Scheduling models execution and commitment at the same time, as separate forces, and makes the tension between them something you can measure.

GlideWhat will happen: Forward-scheduled from real velocity, capacity and dependency order. Lives at the story and task level and changes daily.
GravityWhat must happen: Backward-scheduled from milestones, client deadlines and what downstream teams need. Lives at the initiative and epic level and stays stable.
LiftWhat we do about it: Corrective action sized to the gap, from re-prioritizing a queue to re-baselining the plan.
Thrust & DragWhy glide lands where it does: Thrust is capacity pushing work forward. Drag is everything slowing it down: scope growth, dependency waits, rework, interruptions and meetings.
Altitude & TrendHow much room, and which way: Altitude is the working days between glide and gravity. Trend is whether that room is growing or shrinking since last week.

Orbit states

Seven states, each with a required response.

Every item is classified by comparing its glide to its gravity. Executives read Amber, Red and Black. Purple means the plan's own data can't be trusted yet.

Floating Accelerated Captured Drifting Breaking Orbit Unstable Orbit Gravity Well

See how each state is computed →

The guide

Read it in order.

“Our model shows not just whether we’re on track, but whether reality can still meet our commitments, or whether the plan itself has broken.”