For those who don’t me I’m Chris Knights-Branch and I founded MIST Services in 2008.  I’m the gentleman in the photograph above and if I started this blog in 2008 I would have had hair!  I might do a back story to MIST Services on who we are and why the name in a blog, but for now put it simply we do everything timetabling!

Although social in ‘person’, MIST has been less social on-line over the years but 2021 we are looking to change that.

If you want to follow us on this journey then please:

• Follow this blog
• Follow on Twitter (#mistservices)
• Subscribe to us on YouTube here

But really importantly if you have any particular topics, you would like us to cover then just let us know.  Whether it’s curriculum design, generating option blocks, scheduling, something in the news just let us know – as we say we do ‘Everything timetabling’.  Doesn’t matter if its software related or not, please just ask.

But where do I start?

When I used to meet new people outside of work, people often asked ‘what do you do for a living’?

My response was along the lines of ‘I work with school leaders helping them create their timetables’.  To which many people replied with ‘but don’t they have software that can do all of that for them’!  The more I tried to justify my job, the deeper the hole I was digging for myself, and I was met with more questions:

• Why don’t they use last years timetable?
• Why do people need your help?
• Isn’t it just a big Sudoku puzzle?
• Isn’t timetabling just a data entry job?
• Do you need to be a mathematical genius?

At times I wish I replied with ‘I’m a plumber’, but never did just in case they needed a job doing!

Anyway, what topic to start off with?  In my mind it can only be ‘Can software generate the school timetable’.

Keep tuned and I’ll post our first article on that exact question.