Learnings on managing work calendar
Last few years I was getting more conscious about my calendar and was trying to get control over it. It felt like days come and go and I don’t even recollect what I did. It felt like I was just moving from task to task without knowing the purpose. Tried a few things like slowing down, writing it but no luck, it seems I was not(I still may not be to the extent I need to be) serious about it until Covid-19 told me how important it is to respect your own time.
It’s been a little over 2 months since everyone is remote on my project and it’s tiring. Many of us are struggling with time management and especially in leadership positions all zoom just makes it extremely difficult. Situation is pervasive with several research studies on the impact of these video meetings and always available thing.
I was feeling a little lost. So around 4-weeks back I started taking my calendar thing little more seriously. Here are some of the changes I incorporated, sharing them along with learnings in case you want to try out
- Read your calendar : Started reading my calendar regularly(twice or thrice a day). This helped me plan my day better and decide what meetings to spend my time on which ones to skip.
- Switch off notifications : Have switched off all notifications and reminders instead started making conscious effort to read calendar for meetings twice or thrice a day. This helped me in getting more serious about meetings and asking the question to myself and the organizer do I need to be there. This also means most of the meetings are pre-planned.
- Agenda is a prerequisite : In case meetings are planned without agenda or is followup of some other conversation, skip them. Asking for agenda helped me in deciding if I can really add value and interestingly even organisers have started seeing the benefits.
- Overlaps default to reject : Many people are still planning meetings without getting into habit of looking for calendar availability. Remote has not been kind and changing behaviour takes time. I am guilty of this behaviour as well and have received similar treatment from few others. Earlier I used to think about which one is more important and request for rescheduling other one but would try to accommodate both. Recently started experimenting with by default earlier planned is more important so politely decline 2nd one with the reason of overlap(jargon goes as double booked). Every-time I have done so, organiser have replanned the meeting based on calendar invites and I have been organiser of a few as well. It’s just good enough indication that meeting could wait and had I been more serious about calendar, it wouldn’t have got planned on the same time. I wish if calendar providers include this feature in their backlog.
- This one is more direct and little dangerous : Disconnect from the meeting with a note which is moving away from the agenda without everyone agreeing to move. This is simply for 2 reasons #1 you may not be prepared for the changed direction, and it’s likely that even others are not, cancelling that meeting is actually effective and efficient. #2 In case the loudest voice still pushes through, moving away from the meeting ensures Silence(due to no possibility of talking) is not considered as agreement. and actual problem gets due weightage. Disclaimer: This can be seen as volatile behaviour but I am hoping with time we get serious about time. This is also not possible in hierarchical organisations.
- Block your own calendar explicitly if that is needed and don’t entertain requests during this time. One of the behaviours which sends the wrong message is when calendar shows busy however as soon as one gets the meeting request, response is “Yes”.
- Avoid planning recurring meetings : Recurring meetings generally miss their purpose after initial occurrences as agenda keeps on changing every time and audience as well. Some of the recurring invites still needed could be Stand-ups, One-On-Ones all others can be planned on need basis.
- Every discussion/Question doesn’t need a meeting or instant response. Write it up, share it across and let people respond asynchronously. It’s okay to not get an answer for a day. Call out if you need something immediately.
While I say these there are still meetings which will feel random, explorative and fruitful during the discovery phase of the project and are very much needed. Structure does make them effective however can not have fixed agenda and one needs to be aware of them.
Rework podcast talks give wonderful useful insights in this.
