I recently had opportunity to introspect on my conflicted feelings about Calendly. I wrote the following down, which has helped me resolve my feelings quite a bit.
My feelings are both that it’s a great app and yet sometimes I’m irritated when the other person sends me theirs.
If I introspect on the times when I feel the irritation, I notice I feel like they are shirking some work. Previously we were working together to have a meeting, but now I’m doing the work to have a meeting with the other person, where it’s my job and not theirs to make it happen.
I think I expect some of of the following asymmetries in responsibility to happen with a much higher frequency than with old-fashioned-coordination:
I will book a time, then in a few days they will tell me actually the time doesn’t work for them and I should pick again (this is a world where I had made plans around the meeting time and they hadn’t)
I will book a time, and just before the meeting they will email to say they hadn’t realized when I’d booked it and actually they can’t make it and need to reschedule, and they will feel this is calendly’s fault far more than theirs
I will book a time, and they won’t show up or will show up late and feel that they don’t hold much responsibility for this, thinking of it as a ‘technical failure’ on behalf of calendly.
All of these are quite irritating and feel like I’m the one holding my schedule open for them, right up until it turns out they can’t make it.
I think I might be happier if there was an explicit and expected part of the process where the other person confirms they are aware of the meeting and will show up, either by emailing to say “I’ll see you at <time>!” or if they have to click “going” to the calendar invitation and I would get a notification saying “They confirmed”, and only then was it ‘officially happening’.
Having written this out, I may start pinging people for confirmation after filling out their calendlys...
Huh, in the past I’ve used Calendly pretty heavily from both ends, and never experienced anything like the issues you describe.
Having written this out, I may start pinging people for confirmation after filling out their calendlys...
Probably a good idea. Still, I suspect this will only partially solve your problem, considering what seems to be the attitude of the people you’re scheduling with.
I recently had opportunity to introspect on my conflicted feelings about Calendly. I wrote the following down, which has helped me resolve my feelings quite a bit.
Huh, in the past I’ve used Calendly pretty heavily from both ends, and never experienced anything like the issues you describe.
Probably a good idea. Still, I suspect this will only partially solve your problem, considering what seems to be the attitude of the people you’re scheduling with.