[nrhrjrjrjtntbt]

It is a valid problem but hell it is a very attacked problem. There are thousands of staff scheduling solutions. I think "does the software work for your industry" > the algorithm used. E.g. if the vendor is proven to work for fire-fighters rosters then it is low risk for another station or brigade to adopt. It is other features like HR and payroll integration, access control, working time regulations and law, attendance recording etc. that will make a big difference.

[pgte]

You are spot on about the market saturation and the "moat" being integrations rather than just the algorithm. It is a brutal space.

I am actually building a new tool in this space (TimeClout.com) precisely because, despite those thousands of existing solutions, I saw friends running a medical unit still drowning in spreadsheets. The "proven" enterprise vendors were often too rigid or expensive for their specific needs, and the lighter tools couldn't handle complex constraints like "fairness" (e.g., ensuring everyone shares the burden of inconvenient shifts equally).

My wedge isn't just "another roster app," but focusing on the constraint solver itself—using AI to automate that complex Tetris game of qualifications, rest times, and fairness metrics that most managers do manually. I’m also betting on an open-core model (repo is at djinilabs/timeclout) because I think the logic should be transparent and hackable.

I’d be curious if you think a "better solver + open source" approach is enough to compete against the heavy HR/payroll integrators you mentioned?