Finding Subs When You’re Short
When your event is short and you’ve run out of people to ask on your own roster, Headcount Buddy can search across the other teams you run to find a substitute — all over text, without you composing a single outreach message yourself.
This page explains how that search works: how you kick it off, how the assistant moves through your teams one at a time, what the status updates mean, and how everyone gets a clean close-out when the search is done.
How it starts
The assistant will offer to look for subs automatically when it notices your roster is exhausted — meaning everyone on your team has already replied, and you’re still short.
Example:
Headcount Buddy → you: We’re 2 short for Saturday and everyone on the roster has responded. Want me to look for subs?
You: Yes please.
You can also kick it off yourself at any time:
You: Find me a sub for Saturday’s practice.
Either way, the assistant won’t contact anyone until you’ve approved a plan.
Seeing the plan before anyone is contacted
When you ask for subs, the assistant looks at the other teams you captain or co-captain — including any group you keep specifically as a sub pool (like “My Subs”). It shows you who’s reachable on each team before doing anything.
Example:
Headcount Buddy → you: Here’s who I can reach:
• My Subs — 8 of 15 reachable (5 not yet opted in to sub opportunities, 2 opted out) • Old Slicers — 5 of 20 reachable (12 not opted in, 3 opted out)
Want me to go ahead with both, or just one? And in which order?
“Reachable” means people who have opted in to cross-team sub opportunities and are available to be asked. The rest are skipped silently — you won’t see their names, just the count.
Nothing goes out until you say go. The assistant always shows you this plan and waits for your approval.
Setting the order (first time only)
If you have more than one team and haven’t ranked them yet, the assistant will ask you to before starting:
Headcount Buddy → you: Which team should I try first — My Subs or Old Slicers?
You: My Subs first, then Old Slicers.
Headcount Buddy → you: Got it — I’ll use that order going forward. Starting with My Subs now.
Your ranking is saved and reused for future events, so you won’t be asked again unless you want to change it.
How the search moves through your teams
Once you approve, the assistant works one team at a time, in the order you set. It contacts a batch of people from the first team and waits for them to respond before moving on.
When the current batch is done (everyone has replied, timed out, or been skipped), it either moves to the next batch on the same team or advances to the next team — automatically, no action needed from you.
This continues until either:
- The headcount is filled, or
- Every approved team’s pool has been exhausted
You can ask for a status check at any time (see below).
The two-step process for new contacts
Not everyone on your other teams has told the assistant whether they’re open to sub opportunities. For anyone who hasn’t answered that question yet, the search works in two steps:
Step 1 — A quick preference question (sent first):
Headcount Buddy → Maria: Hey Maria — a captain on a connected team (Hugo, Saturday Tennis Scrimmage) may want to reach out about filling in for events. Would you like to be available for these opportunities going forward, opt out entirely, or skip this one and decide later?
The actual event details are not included yet. Maria’s choices:
- Opt in → she’s marked as available for sub opportunities, and the actual event ask is sent to her right away in a follow-up message.
- Opt out → she’s removed from future sub outreach permanently, and the search moves on.
- Skip / decide later → this opportunity passes her by, but she’ll be asked the preference question again next time.
Step 2 — The actual opportunity (sent only after opting in):
Headcount Buddy → Maria: Hey — there’s an opening for Saturday’s practice on May 23 at 2:00 PM at Riverside Tennis Club (Saturday Tennis Scrimmage, Hugo’s group). Want to join? Reply with a yes or no and I’ll let the captain know.
For anyone who has already opted in, step 1 is skipped and they go straight to the event ask.
What you see when you check in
You can ask for a status update at any time:
You: Where are we with finding a sub for Saturday?
The assistant gives you a per-team breakdown:
Headcount Buddy → you: Here’s where things stand for Saturday’s practice:
My Subs (current team): • Waiting to hear back: Jose, Tom • Accepted: Alice ✓ • Declined: Liz • Timed out (no reply): Sam
Old Slicers (up next — moves there once the current batch wraps up)
Still need 1 more. I’ll reach out to Old Slicers automatically when My Subs finishes.
What “waiting” actually means — two different states
The status report distinguishes between two kinds of waiting, because they mean different things:
Waiting on opt-in — this person hasn’t told the assistant yet whether they want to receive sub opportunities. The preference question went out, but they haven’t replied. The actual event ask has not been sent to them yet.
Waiting on their reply — this person has already opted in. They received the full event details and the assistant is waiting to hear yes or no.
These are two separate waits, not one vague “pending.” If you’re wondering why someone hasn’t gotten the event details yet, the answer is usually that they’re still in the opt-in step.
When someone says yes
You get a text right away:
Headcount Buddy → you: Alice (from My Subs) is in for Saturday. 3 of 4 confirmed — still looking for 1 more.
When the headcount is fully filled:
Headcount Buddy → you: Bob is in for Saturday. All set — 4 of 4 confirmed.
The search stops automatically. Anyone still waiting to be asked is let go without an outreach.
When a spot fills just as someone replies
Occasionally two people say yes at almost exactly the same moment. The assistant handles this gracefully: it accepts the first yes that arrives and tells the second person the spot is already taken — without any action needed from you. That person gets a warm message letting them know they remain on the list for next time.
When the search runs out of people
If every approved team’s pool has been contacted and you’re still short, the assistant lets you know what it tried:
Headcount Buddy → you: I reached out to everyone available across My Subs and Old Slicers and couldn’t fill the spot. Started at 2 confirmed, now at 3 of 4.
You have one more team I haven’t tried yet — The Hawks (6 reachable). Want me to extend the search there?
If there are no more teams to try, the assistant tells you that too, without asking a follow-up question — the next step is yours.
If the event gets cancelled mid-search
If you cancel the event while the search is running, everyone who was in the middle of the process gets a message. People who had already committed get the standard cancellation notice. People who were still being asked — but hadn’t said yes yet — get a separate note letting them know the opening is no longer available.
Cancelling the search yourself
If you decide you don’t want to ask other teams:
You: Never mind, don’t reach out to other teams.
The assistant closes out the search cleanly.
Setting up your sub teams
The search only looks at teams you captain or co-captain. If you don’t have a second team set up, the assistant will tell you there’s no one to ask and suggest creating a group — even an informal one, just for people you’d call on as subs.
To get started or if you have questions, reach out at help@headcountbuddy.com.