It's Monday morning, 09:42. The sun is shining, it's 28 degrees outside - inside the project chaos is raging. Two colleagues are on holiday, a third is ill. The next customer project starts - and you? As a project manager in an agency, you're trying to meet full deadlines with half the team.
Sound familiar?
Welcome to the agency summer: the time when projects continue but resources take a break.
The time when improvisation becomes the method - and when project managers are often torn between excessive demands, spontaneous redistribution and a guilty conscience towards the team.
But there is a survival strategy for precisely this phase: smart capacity planning that thinks ahead before things go wrong.
🔥 Summer in agencies: when planning becomes a fire drill
[.toc-name]When planning becomes a fire drill[.toc-name]
Agencies thrive on speed, flexibility and creativity - but all of this only works if resources are clearly planned. And that's exactly what often breaks down in summer.
What happens then:
- Tasks are distributed at random - often to the wrong people.
- Overloads are recognised too late - and continue throughout the entire project.
- Some team members work to the limit while others wait for input.
- Spontaneous changes repeatedly tear the planning apart.
- And worst of all: project deadlines are missed.
Many project managers fight their way through this phase using calendars, Excel sheets or gut instinct - until things go awry.
What's missing is transparency. And a system that thinks for itself.
And this is exactly where a good planning tool comes into its own: Creating clarity before things get dicey. And that's exactly what awork does.
🧭 The solution: smart planning instead of summer chaos
awork is an intuitive capacity and project planning tool that was specially developed for teams that work flexibly, creatively and quickly - i.e. agencies.
It supports project managers in realistically planning resources, fairly distributing tasks and reliably managing projects even when the team is half-strength.
What makes awork a summer survival strategy?
- Real-time overview of availability
Who is available and who is on holiday? awork shows you crystal clear how much capacity your team really has available - including meetings, daily business tasks and project work.
- Recognise bottlenecks immediately
With the visual workload overview, you can see at an early stage where resources are becoming scarce. This allows you to reschedule tasks before things get dicey - instead of having to react after the fact.
- AI-supported project adjustment
Availability changes? awork adjusts project plans automatically and intelligently. Ideal for managing holidays, illness or spontaneous changes in real time.
- Smooth handovers
All information is stored centrally in awork Docs: Briefings, attachments, comments. This allows everyone in the team to take over seamlessly - without queries or lost information.
- Coordination with clients made easy
With awork Connect, you can bring clients into the project directly and free of charge - for faster approvals, fewer queries and clear communication.
- Ready to go quickly
No long implementation: you can start using awork with your core team within a week. Ideal for saving the summer right now.
🧠 This is what it looks like in practice
Imagine you realise on Friday that the coming week is going to be critical: A designer is on holiday and your copywriter's workload is at 100%. With awork, you won't only realise this when it's too late - but before it escalates. You can immediately find colleagues with the right skills, reassign tasks and inform clients with just one click.
Your team is prepared, handovers are clearly organised and you can focus on what really matters: Driving projects forward - not putting out fires.
💬 What agencies appreciate about awork
More than 4,000 teams already use awork - including many agencies that have similar challenges to yours.
What convinces them?
- The immediately visible overview of team availability
- The simple, intuitive operation (no training marathon)
- The speed at which teams become productive
- Support that is not only fast, but also human
🎯 Conclusion: Plan like a pro - not like a firefighter
[.toc-name]Plan like a pro - not like a firefighter[.toc-name]
Summer will come. So will holidays. But whether you successfully complete projects or sink into stress depends on your planning.
With awork, you don't just get a tool - you get a strategy. One that gives you an overview, flexibility and security. So that you not only survive, but can even enjoy your summer.
Try awork now for 14 days free of charge - and get your team through the holiday season without losing any projects.
[.b-button-primary]Start a free trial[.b-button-primary]
