on the practice of confirming meetings
11 Sep 2017so here’s the thing. i am an obsessive scheduler. it’s because i value my time and think about as the most valuable resource i have. unlike money and other material goods, it’s the only resource i can’t ever get back or more of.
but my scheduling habits are, in my experience, far from normal. i have meetings planned out sometimes months in advance. for folks who are also facile calendar users, as long as there is a calendar invite, they’re good to go. but for folks who aren’t used to planning meetings more than a few days or a week out, having a meeting planned 4-6 in advance is jarring. even for folks with strong calendar faculties, that can be a long time.
a downside to this practice of scheduling stuff far out? people sometimes forget that we had a meeting set up. i can’t tell you how many times i’ve been sitting somewhere and waiting for someone to show up to a meeting/meal/hang sesh that they’d totally forgotten about.
this, ironically, leads to wasted time.
one way i deal with this is by always having a book with me (yet another reason i carry my giant backpack(/survival kit lol) all the time).
but i’ve learned that sending a confirmation message a day or even just a few hours before a meeting helps people not forget.
lately, because i’ve been so mobile with my work, i’ve been setting up meetings and waiting until much closer to the date to confirm a location. that way i can pick or at least propose a location that is somewhat in the orbit of where i need to be before and after.
anyway, nothing too complicated or unique here, but definitely felt worth putting out there.
words / writing / post-processing
298w / 9min / 3min