The quiet rotation of on-call duty

It was Tuesday morning, and I had a list of tasks that needed coverage. I opened the shared calendar, scanning for who was already carrying the weight of the week's on-call shifts.

Finding a fair starting point

I didn't want to be the one pointing fingers or making arbitrary choices. The team was busy, and the last thing anyone needed was a sense of unfairness creeping into the schedule. It felt like a small administrative task, but it carried a real weight for morale.I remembered the last time we had a debate about it. Someone had covered two weekends in a row because of a project deadline, and it just didn't sit right. That's when the idea for a visual, impartial system started to form in my mind.

Letting the wheel decide

I built a simple digital wheel with everyone's name on it. The rule was straightforward: the person least recently on duty would be at the top of the list for the next slot. It removed my direct influence from the equation entirely.There was a palpable shift in the room when I first shared the screen and spun it. The tension of assignment dissolved. It was no longer my decision; it was just the next turn in a cycle we all agreed to.

A shared understanding

We all watched the pointer slow down, landing on a name. There were a few nods, no complaints. It felt procedural, not personal.

The relief of clarity

After that, the schedule just ran itself. People knew when their turn was coming, and they planned around it. The weekly 'who's on call' question stopped being a managerial chore and became a shared, transparent fact.Now, the rotation is just part of our rhythm. I don't have to check the calendar with a sense of dread before assigning the duty. The wheel handles it, and we all get on with our work, clear on where the responsibility lies.