Visualized Scheduling and Opportunities for Digitization: A Q&A With Planera Co-Founder and CEO Nitin Bhandari

Scheduling solution and BuiltWorlds member Planera, founded in November 2021, hit a milestone last year, with its users having created and managed over 25 million schedule days of construction timelines via the platform. In honor of that achievement, we sat down with the company’s co-founder and CEO, Nitin Bhandari (picture right), to learn a little bit more about his background, the company, the potential of visualized scheduling, and where the industry is ripe for digitization.

Please give us a little insight into your background, including what led you to co-found Planera and what your current role entails.

I’ve always been passionate about solving complex problems, and as a serial entrepreneur, I’ve built and sold two tech companies—Skyfire and Zenlabs. Each venture taught me invaluable lessons about tackling entrenched challenges with creativity and a fresh perspective, skills that have proven essential in the construction technology space.

The idea for Planera originated from a conversation with a close friend who has spent more than 30 years in the construction industry. When I asked him about the biggest challenges in his business, he immediately brought up scheduling. He explained how it was a constant pain point in construction, riddled with inefficiencies, and that the tools available haven’t seen meaningful innovation in decades. To me, this was a clear signal of untapped opportunity. Those early discussions laid the foundation for what would become Planera.

Today, as co-founder and CEO of Planera, I lead a talented team dedicated to redefining project scheduling and planning for the construction industry. My role is to steer our vision, drive innovation, and ensure that Planera stays focused on delivering solutions that genuinely address customer needs.

In your experience, what are the construction industry’s biggest project management pain points?

Construction is one of the most complex industries out there, and communication breakdowns are one of its biggest challenges. Information often gets stuck in silos—whether between teams or across project phases—and scheduling is a prime example of this. Traditional construction scheduling tools can be difficult to learn and to use. Because of this, scheduling is often confined to a select few within a company—those I call “the high priests of scheduling.”

This leads to a ripple effect. When the broader team isn’t involved in project schedule development as much as they should be, project schedules are often weak, inaccurate, and even ignored by team members in the field. The result is an entire industry that expects projects to be late and over budget. And the fact that this is accepted as the norm is something that we’re working hard to change.

In the scheduling world, these problems have been hard to solve because traditional scheduling solutions are so deeply entrenched. Fixing the problem involves not only developing new software, as Planera has done, it requires people to be willing to try new ways of doing things. And as you know, overcoming institutional inertia takes time and clear evidence that change can yield big benefits.

I understand you’re a proponent of Critical Path Method (CPM) scheduling. Walk us through what that means and how it differs from traditional scheduling in construction. How does Planera incorporate this method?

In construction, Critical Path Method, or CPM scheduling, is a project management technique that identifies the longest sequence of dependent tasks that must be completed for a project to finish on time. It determines the minimum time needed for project completion and highlights which activities are crucial for maintaining the schedule. Both Planera and traditional scheduling softwares use the CPM method. The big difference is how the tools get you there.

Traditional tools rely on rigid, old-school Gantt chart interfaces to build a schedule. This is a laborious process, and certainly not one that is friendly to those who don’t develop schedules for a living. These tools can be powerful. But using them can be painful—particularly for those outside the “high priesthood” described above.

With Planera, in contrast, designing a schedule is a highly visual process. Our “drag and drop” interface makes it easy to define schedule items and shift them around as desired. Planera also enables multiple project team members to collaborate on a document simultaneously (for anyone who has used Google Docs, this is just as simple and convenient). When you are finished creating a schedule in Planera, if you’d like to display your schedule in Gantt chart format, you can certainly do so. But you don’t need to develop your schedule using this traditional format.

What are the advantages of conveying information through visuals rather than words and/or a spreadsheet?

In developing short-term or working schedules, project teams have long gathered together and used sticky notes on a trailer wall at the job site to plan out key activities for the next few weeks. This is a process that is flexible and collaborative—and as a result, very popular. It’s a lot simpler than detailing a plan in a doc or a spreadsheet, and certainly better for getting a cross-section of team members involved.

Planera offers these same advantages. It’s a visual, collaborative scheduling tool that makes it easy for project team members with different responsibilities to come together to create the best possible schedule.

A recent peer-reviewed study from Cal State University East Bay supports these advantages. Over 60% of respondents preferred visual scheduling to traditional construction scheduling tools. In addition, more than 60% of respondents said that it was easier to spot mistakes and make changes using visual scheduling.

I understand you’re also just an overall proponent of increased digitization throughout the construction industry. What are the areas of construction that you think are most in need of digitization (or rather, which would receive the biggest gains from digitization)? What will it take to get us there?

There’s immense potential for digitization in construction, particularly in these areas:

Project Management and Collaboration: Despite advancements, project management and collaboration remain prime targets for digital transformation. Many construction firms still struggle with fragmented communication and decentralized decision-making. Our industry needs Improved digital platforms that streamline communication among stakeholders and enable seamless data flow across the project lifecycle.

Data Management and Analytics: While data collection has improved, many companies still face challenges in centralizing and effectively analyzing their data. There’s a growing need for integrated systems that can consolidate data from various sources, enabling more robust business intelligence and data-driven decision-making.

Quality Assurance and Control (QA/QC): There’s also an increasing demand for digital solutions that can manage QA/QC tasks more efficiently, track errors early in the construction process, and integrate findings back into the design phase. This area presents a significant opportunity for digitalization to reduce rework and improve overall project quality.

Supply Chain and Resource Management: With the rising costs of materials and labor shortages, digital tools for optimizing supply chain operations and resource allocation are becoming crucial. Systems that can provide real-time visibility into inventory, automate procurement processes, and predict resource needs could greatly benefit the industry.

Sustainability and Carbon Reporting: As sustainability becomes a norm in 2025, there’s a growing need for digital tools that can accurately track and report on carbon emissions throughout the construction process. Technologies that can assist in designing and implementing more sustainable building practices are in high demand.

Looking ahead, what technologies—both as it relates to project management as well as construction at large—really have you excited?

We’re clearly bullish about the opportunity for enhanced scheduling software to make a significant impact on how the world is built. But as I look at the construction industry as a whole, there are plenty of other emerging technologies that I find to be promising. For example, there are a number of companies that are working to help GCs better track project progress versus plan. In fact, I think there are too many such companies, and that as a result, we’re eventually going to see some consolidation in that space. But the ability for GCs to get a clear understanding of where their projects stand in comparison to their original plans is extremely useful, and I predict that there will be some valuable companies that emerge here.

Another area that excites me is the emergence of robots that tackle tasks such as installing drywall or building walls. With the labor shortage intensifying from a decline in available workers as increasing numbers of construction pros retire, automating repetitive tasks and shifting these to robots will help our industry to deal with shifting workforce demographics.

Like you, BuiltWorlds is excited about the potential technology has to improve efficiency, safety, productivity, etc in construction, but are there any dangers of embracing technology too quickly?

Adopting technology without a clear plan can lead to wasted resources and frustration. The best approach is to test, then scale. Start by testing a new solution on a single project. If it performs well, expand its use to multiple projects. And if it proves to be a real winner, consider making it a company standard. This phased approach helps GCs to continue scouting for new products that can bring them competitive advantage while effectively managing risk.