A Virtual Table for One, Please

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Why scheduling a meeting with yourself is essential when outsourcing calendar management to technology.

Camille Endacott, PhD

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The users of smart scheduling tools that I interviewed came from a number of different occupations. Among them were graphic designers, financial advisors, technology consultants, freelance marketers, and salespeople. Despite their different positions, how users talked about their scheduling problems converged toward one central tension : they needed to meet with people to sustain their business, but they needed time away from people to do their work. Since many users were small business owners or independent contractors, they needed to meet with clients to grow their business (and get paid!). But they also needed time to do the work that their clients paid them to do. As one user said, “I can do a lot of meetings, but at some point I need to do the work that comes out of all those meetings.”

The problem of finding time to get work done was often exacerbated by the use of automated scheduling tools, because these tools made it easier for clients to book with them. Some tools on the market were even designed to optimize the number of meetings that a user books. You can imagine why such optimization would be useful for people in recruiting or sales roles, who depend on an influx of new connections. Easy availability is a great way to build a social network . However, it’s not so great for keeping time free to do generative work like writing or design, as users pointed out.

Research has shown that people need time free of interruptions to get independent work done, especially when that work is creative or complex (for example, Harvard Business School’s Dr. Leslie Perlow described the importance of quiet time for deep work in her 1999 study of “time famines” in software engineering work). But, as users in my study pointed out, it can be hard to get that quiet time when one’s work also depends on being available and responsive to clients.

One solution? Book a meeting with yourself. Users consistently described “ blocking out one’s own time” or “scheduling a meeting with yourself” as a best practice of using any sort of automated calendaring software. Marking time on one’s calendar as unavailable helped users avoid cancelling previously-scheduled meetings or running out of time to get quality work done. While clients could still schedule outside of this meeting time, blocking out time to get work done on one’s own calendar allowed users to be responsive to clients but, as some users pointed out, “on my own terms.”

Some users said that they had picked up the habit of blocking out their own time a long time ago, for example, from productivity courses or from their time working with executive assistants. Other users had picked up the habit of booking meetings with themselves more recently, after growing increasingly frustrated with calendars that were filled to the brim through automation. These users learned to better envision their week ahead and anticipate when they were most likely to need quiet, independent time to engage in deep work.

In this way, implementing smart calendaring software had an unexpected benefit for some users: it contrived an opportunity for them to t hink more carefully about how they spent their time and to proactively place times for complex tasks on their calendar.

So to translate the advice of my expert research participants: go ahead and book that virtual table for one . You deserve it.

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Why scheduling a meeting with yourself is essential when outsourcing calendar management to technology. Camille Endacott, PhD. Share. The users of smart scheduling tools that I interviewed came from a number of different occupations. Among them were graphic designers, financial advisors, technology consultants, freelance marketers, and salespeople. Despite their different positions, how users talked about their scheduling problems converged toward one central tension : they needed to meet with people to sustain their business, but they needed time away from people to do their work. Since many users were small business owners or independent contractors, they needed to meet with clients to grow their business (and get paid!). But they also needed time to do the work that their clients paid them to do. As one user said, “I can do a lot of meetings, but at some point I need to do the work that comes out of all those meetings.” The problem of finding time to get work done was often exacerbated by the use of automated scheduling tools, because these tools made it easier for clients to book with them. Some tools on the market were even designed to optimize the number of meetings that a user books. You can imagine why such optimization would be useful for people in recruiting or sales roles, who depend on an influx of new connections. Easy availability is a great way to build a social network . However, it’s not so great for keeping time free to do generative work like writing or design, as users pointed out. Research has shown that people need time free of interruptions to get independent work done, especially when that work is creative or complex (for example, Harvard Business School’s Dr. Leslie Perlow described the importance of quiet time for deep work in her 1999 study of “time famines” in software engineering work). But, as users in my study pointed out, it can be hard to get that quiet time when one’s work also depends on being available and responsive to clients. One solution? Book a meeting with yourself. Users consistently described “ blocking out one’s own time” or “scheduling a meeting with yourself” as a best practice of using any sort of automated calendaring software. Marking time on one’s calendar as unavailable helped users avoid cancelling previously-scheduled meetings or running out of time to get quality work done. While clients could still schedule outside of this meeting time, blocking out time to get work done on one’s own calendar allowed users to be responsive to clients but, as some users pointed out, “on my own terms.” Some users said that they had picked up the habit of blocking out their own time a long time ago, for example, from productivity courses or from their time working with executive assistants. Other users had picked up the habit of booking meetings with themselves more recently, after growing increasingly frustrated with calendars that were filled to the brim through automation. These users learned to better envision their week ahead and anticipate when they were most likely to need quiet, independent time to engage in deep work. In this way, implementing smart calendaring software had an unexpected benefit for some users: it contrived an opportunity for them to t hink more carefully about how they spent their time and to proactively place times for complex tasks on their calendar. So to translate the advice of my expert research participants: go ahead and book that virtual table for one . You deserve it. Share.