Book predictable meetings far in advance
Datum: 2024-11-20 08:20
It becomes harder to find a possible time for a meeting the closer to the present moment you are — especially if you are two people with busy lives and crammed calendars trying to meet. This is also why it takes longer to book a meeting with short notice, which means you end up having less time to work on more urgent and important tasks.
If you think about it, there are quite a few meetings that hardly come as a surprise and which you actually know well in advance that you will have to find time for. You might not know what you will talk about, but you are sure that you will have the meeting.
For you who prefer listening to reading, this post is also available as an episode of the “Done!” podcast:
What you do now will be finished later
A reader recently gave me the tip to book any meetings you already know you will have, no matter how far into the future they will happen, sooner rather than later. This simple but sometimes underestimated trick is one I would like to put extra light on today.
Do this
If you want to make the process of booking predictable meetings both faster and easier, then do this:
- Take a moment to consider which meetings you have regularly and which you know you will attend repeatedly for the foreseeable future. Make a list if you need it and want to. It can be check-ins, debriefs, monthly meetings, weekly group meetings, team meetings, and a bunch of others like these. Take a look 10 – 12 months back in the calendar if you want a few clues as to how your year usually looks in terms of meetings.
- Suggest meeting-times and/or send out invitations to the meetings you can predict and which you are responsible for organizing in the next say 10 – 12 months (or whatever time-horizon you are most comfortable with).
- When you are done, enjoy the feeling of being well ahead of yourself and that it was relatively easy to find times for the meetings you knew you had to book sooner or later anyway.
Fast and easy
If you book meetings well in advance you will find possible meeting-times that suit all participants both faster and easier.
Some might say that it is overkill to schedule meetings so far ahead of time, but it will not hurt the calendar to have an afternoon-debrief with the team scheduled for Tuesday ten months from now, now will it?
Someone might need to get back to you when they know if they are leaving on a trip or not, but for most people, the calendar ought to be quite breezy that far in advance.
What’s your way?
What’s your favorite trick for scheduling meetings quickly and with as little hassle as possible? Please email me and share.
(By the way, I think you should put a period to unstructured meetings!)
I'll give you more
If you want more tips on how to create good structure at work, there are many ways to get that from me - in podcasts, videos, books, talks and other formats.
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