Route quality is arithmetic, not instinct. Five rules cover most of what separates a week that runs itself from one that needs three phone calls before lunch.
Rule 1 · Density beats distance
The number that matters is not miles driven, it’s minutes between stops. A route covering 40 miles with 22 stops in a tight cluster beats a 25-mile route with 12 scattered ones. Measure stops per hour, and treat any gap over about twelve minutes as a question worth asking.
Rule 2 · A day has a shape, and it starts where the tech does
Optimization starts from the technician’s configured start time and location. If that’s wrong in the system, every route built from it is wrong by the same amount. Fix the start before you tune the sequence.
Rule 3 · Balance across the week, not within the day
Most overload isn’t one bad day, it’s a Tuesday carrying work that belongs on Thursday. Look at the whole week as a capacity grid before moving a single stop — that’s exactly what the Calendar Heatmap exists to show. Green next to red is a move waiting to happen.
Rule 4 · New work joins the cluster it belongs to
The expensive mistake is adding a new client to whoever has room, rather than to whoever is already nearby. A pool twelve minutes off-route costs about 24 minutes round trip on every visit — roughly nineteen hours a year at weekly service. Place new work by geography first and availability second.
Rule 5 · Re-optimize before you save, every time
Sequence decays. Every added stop, cancelled account and moved day pushes the order slightly further from optimal, and the drift is invisible until someone notices the drive times. Run optimization as the last action before saving, not as an occasional clean-up.
Putting it together
Open the capacity view before touching any individual day.
Swap stops between an overloaded day and a light one in the same area.
Draw around the cluster, see what’s already nearby, then assign.
Let the system order the stops. Never hand-sequence a full day.
The mechanics are in the Quick Routes™ guide and Create your first route.
These rules come from how PSS clients plan routes, not from a published study. Treat the timings as a way to structure your own measurements.
Route quality is arithmetic, not instinct. Five rules cover most of what separates a week that runs itself from one that needs three phone calls before lunch.
Rule 1 · Density beats distance
The number that matters is not miles driven, it’s minutes between stops. A route covering 40 miles with 22 stops in a tight cluster beats a 25-mile route with 12 scattered ones. Measure stops per hour, and treat any gap over about twelve minutes as a question worth asking.
Rule 2 · A day has a shape, and it starts where the tech does
Optimization starts from the technician’s configured start time and location. If that’s wrong in the system, every route built from it is wrong by the same amount. Fix the start before you tune the sequence.
Rule 3 · Balance across the week, not within the day
Most overload isn’t one bad day, it’s a Tuesday carrying work that belongs on Thursday. Look at the whole week as a capacity grid before moving a single stop — that’s exactly what the Calendar Heatmap exists to show. Green next to red is a move waiting to happen.
Rule 4 · New work joins the cluster it belongs to
The expensive mistake is adding a new client to whoever has room, rather than to whoever is already nearby. A pool twelve minutes off-route costs about 24 minutes round trip on every visit — roughly nineteen hours a year at weekly service. Place new work by geography first and availability second.
Rule 5 · Re-optimize before you save, every time
Sequence decays. Every added stop, cancelled account and moved day pushes the order slightly further from optimal, and the drift is invisible until someone notices the drive times. Run optimization as the last action before saving, not as an occasional clean-up.
Putting it together
Open the capacity view before touching any individual day.
Swap stops between an overloaded day and a light one in the same area.
Draw around the cluster, see what’s already nearby, then assign.
Let the system order the stops. Never hand-sequence a full day.
The mechanics are in the Quick Routes™ guide and Create your first route.
These rules come from how PSS clients plan routes, not from a published study. Treat the timings as a way to structure your own measurements.