{"id":549,"date":"2026-10-26T17:06:28","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T16:06:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/erikagherardi.it\/lab\/the-quarter-in-one-calendar\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T17:35:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T16:35:26","slug":"session-planner","status":"publish","type":"lab_project","link":"https:\/\/erikagherardi.it\/en\/lab\/session-planner\/","title":{"rendered":"The quarter in one calendar"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>The need<\/h2>\n<p>Planning a quarter of training means fitting in the sessions, online and in person, taking into account weekends, public holidays, leave, the partner&#8217;s availability, trips and, sometimes, even shipping times. All things that are hard to see in an Excel file, which is basically just a list of dates.<\/p>\n<p>So I wondered whether it was possible to create a tool that would help me plan, taking into account all the constraints and all the instructions, so as to shorten the time and head off as many surprises as possible. The answer, once again, is yes.<\/p>\n<h2>How it works<\/h2>\n<p>To revolutionise an activity that until recently was done with a list of dates, one simple basic idea was enough: time makes more sense when we look at it on a calendar.<\/p>\n<p>So I asked Claude to build the training sessions calendar for me: a single HTML file, with the information written directly into the code.<\/p>\n<p>It is a delicate choice, but it has three advantages:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>no session can be moved or deleted by mistake, because of a cache error or a missed save;<\/li>\n<li>I can have a plan A, the one written in the code, and a plan B to experiment with before making complex changes final;<\/li>\n<li>it can be shared easily with the client, when needed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Of course it also has a price: to avoid sharing confidential information, the sessions do not show the title of the training. To know which training will be delivered, I still have to open the Excel file that, no, has not been thrown away. It holds a lot of useful information and is the reference tool for both me and the client, and that is fine: my aim was never to get rid of Excel, but to save time filling it in.<\/p>\n<p>To get there I asked Claude for a file that was, in essence, the calendar of the quarter: for each day it tells me how many online sessions are scheduled and whether a trainer is away on a trip. At a glance I can see whether the other trainer is free to be sent elsewhere or to run online sessions. It is also very handy for judging travel and shipping times, and for making sure the theoretical plan is always realistic and prudent.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/erikagherardi.it\/wp-content\/themes\/erika-gherardi\/assets\/images\/lab\/session-planner-quarter.webp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/erikagherardi.it\/wp-content\/themes\/erika-gherardi\/assets\/images\/lab\/session-planner-quarter.webp\" alt=\"Quarter view of a training calendar: one row for each trainer and one for online sessions, with a numbered chip on every day that has online sessions and a coloured block when a trainer is busy with a live session. Weekends and public holidays are shaded.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1414\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><figcaption>The quarter view, with invented data. Weekends and holidays are shaded.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Over time the file has evolved: today there is also a monthly view, with the times of the sessions, and a view for each retailer, which lets me print a PDF to send them directly, with the whole plan of the quarter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An interactive calendar that shows a whole quarter at a glance: how many online sessions have been planned each day and when trainers are busy with in-person sessions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","project_status":[21],"project_type":[26],"class_list":["post-549","lab_project","type-lab_project","status-publish","hentry","project_status-ongoing","project_type-automation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikagherardi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lab_project\/549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikagherardi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lab_project"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikagherardi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/lab_project"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/erikagherardi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lab_project\/549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":565,"href":"https:\/\/erikagherardi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lab_project\/549\/revisions\/565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikagherardi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"project_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikagherardi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_status?post=549"},{"taxonomy":"project_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikagherardi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_type?post=549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}