I’ve used various software to help, but it always comes back to spreadsheets. It’s usually too business specific and rapidly changing to try to use something off the self. Even when you build your perfect custom module in a software like Anaplan, Adaptive, Hyperion, etc. you’re at risk because the very algorithm of how you model labor can and does change and sometimes frequently even though you may think that’s something that should be rather set & forget it’s not. So the adhoc-ability of spreadsheets win.
The human processes are much more difficult to wrangle and change in a whim. If you’re growing fast, usually prioritization has to come into place and it’s like a horse race. Even some role that’s not even planned can suddenly pop up and get hired without budget. This happens a lot when the perfect candidate comes available and the company wasn’t originally going to hire but don’t want to miss the opportunity.
I’d love to be able to say, go build this B2B solution HN! But honestly, I have a hard time imagining anything would compete with the spreadsheet. It’s not like people haven’t already tried, it just doesn’t work well in practice for the end users.