Scheduling the scheduling task: A time management perspective on scheduling

Time is the most critical resource at the disposal of schedulers. Hence, an adequate management of time from the schedulers may impact positively on the scheduler’s productivity and responsiveness to uncertain scheduling environments. This paper presents a field study of how schedulers make use of their time and makes explicit what time-management decisions and behaviors are available to a scheduler. Based on observations of the field study, we propose a framework to classify and specify key characteristics of common tasks to the scheduling job in terms of their impact on the workflow and workload of a scheduler. We then discuss how such a framework may be used to assess alternative time-management decisions of a scheduler.