When the calendar invite isn't sent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a technical grunt and don't have someone to maintain my calendar for me. When someone makes an appt/meeting for me, I got to my calendar and put in a quick placeholder note on my calendar. It takes all of about 5 seconds to do. If I get an official meeting invite, when I confirm, I cancel the placeholder. I check my calendar most afternoons for the next 2-3 days so that I can get an idea when I have something coming up and whether I have a meeting to prep for. If I see a placeholder but not meeting, I send a note to the meeting organizer and explain that I haven't got an invite with the call-in/meeting link.

I also put placeholder notes for myself for things that need to be done. For example, if I have to do work that someone is waiting for output from me, if it is not something I need to do immediately, I put in a placeholder a few days in advance to remind me to do whatever I need to do. Short things like "Form for John Doe" "Run scan, output to Larla" "Coordinate pickup with Sam", etc. Most of the time I see these placeholders sometime on Monday and I try to figure out when during the week I'll squeeze these things in.

You need a real task management system. A calendar system like that tends to break down for most people quickly because if you get roped into something else, the reminder and time block is past. It sounds like it is working OK for you but I've worked in productivity and time management consulting (from front line up to execs... it is shocking to me how far people get while regularly missing tasks) and that is definitely not a best practice. Now time blocking is to do those tasks - but don't keep your tasks only on a calendar.

Any programs you recommend? I'm using todoist which I like but I'm. always wondering if there is something better

What task management system to you use PP?? I am pretty happy with Microsoft To Do List (to manage MY tasks, and reminders for my boss, but he doesn't use it), but always searching for something better. As far as putting "reminders" on my boss's calendar, I read his sent emails to see if he has done what the reminder was for and if he has NOT done it, I pop it over to the next day's calendar. Repeat until he does it. If the reminder was something I wouldn't have seen in sent/received emails I ask him if he has completed the task. I also keep a running to do list for him in his OneNote, which really sucks because it's not user friendly, but that's what he wants. We both would love to hear of a better task management system!

[Anonymous]

What happened when you got close to the meeting time and saw no link had been sent? Obviously they should have sent it but you also should have followed up when you realized it was missing.

Or are you saying you didn't even bother to block out the space on your own calendar to hold the time while you were waiting for the invite? If so, that's super lazy and irresponsible. What if someone else asked for a meeting at that time and you double-booked yourself despite committing to the other meeting first?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What happened when you got close to the meeting time and saw no link had been sent? Obviously they should have sent it but you also should have followed up when you realized it was missing.

Or are you saying you didn't even bother to block out the space on your own calendar to hold the time while you were waiting for the invite? If so, that's super lazy and irresponsible. What if someone else asked for a meeting at that time and you double-booked yourself despite committing to the other meeting first?

NP disagree. The other person said they would send the invite

[Anonymous]

I don't have an assistant and I usually send my own calendar invites, but on the rare occasion I forget to I feel responsible if the meeting fails to occur. That's probably silly but I do.

I also often just send an invite as my response to an email ask rather than respond to the email then send a calendar invite. That's gotten me into trouble because people expect an email response and miss the calendar invite - it's frustrating. My situation is tricky because I'm an academic, so I am constantly setting times with students and the power dynamic is strange, and they also aren't super accustomed to professionalism.

I've taken to openly asking people to send me an invite, especially if it was their invitation -- students, colleagues, higher-ups sometimes -- "thanks, we'll meet Thursday at 10. Can you please send me a calendar invite?" That at least clears up the confusion if it never comes, and then I do not feel responsible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't have an assistant and I usually send my own calendar invites, but on the rare occasion I forget to I feel responsible if the meeting fails to occur. That's probably silly but I do.

I also often just send an invite as my response to an email ask rather than respond to the email then send a calendar invite. That's gotten me into trouble because people expect an email response and miss the calendar invite - it's frustrating. My situation is tricky because I'm an academic, so I am constantly setting times with students and the power dynamic is strange, and they also aren't super accustomed to professionalism.

I've taken to openly asking people to send me an invite, especially if it was their invitation -- students, colleagues, higher-ups sometimes -- "thanks, we'll meet Thursday at 10. Can you please send me a calendar invite?" That at least clears up the confusion if it never comes, and then I do not feel responsible.

The last student I met with initially proposed meeting times between 5 and 10 pm on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. It is certainly possible she was in a different time zone, but she offered no explanation for the weird time. (We ultimately met during business hours.)

Similar approach, although I usually send an invite AND respond to the email because some people at my academic institution are really just not good about calendaring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay, so I am an assistant to a very busy partner at a law firm. When I schedule meetings for him I ALWAYS block off any time I offered or someone else offered for a call in a bright color on his calendar marked "HOLD: call with so-and-so, TBD, or they will send conference info, or waiting to hear back to confirm and send our bridge/Zoom, etc.". That way when I look at his calendar for the next day or two, I know whether someone who was supposed to send an invite/bridge actually has or has not and also know not to offer that time slot to a different client - and follow-up if they haven't send a bridge or follow-up to confirm the time and send out the bridge on my end. I have his Outlook calendar color coded. LOL, sometimes I feel almost like I'm playing a video game...like Tetris or something with how often I schedule calls or move them around. Do you have an assistant or do you handle your own calendar?

For a busy person with lots of calls placeholders are super necessary for keeping track of the scheduling and not offering the same time slots to multiple people.

I also love worldtimebuddy.com, it makes scheduling calls between many people who are in multiple times zones much easier. Also, sending a Doodle to schedule call with a lot of people is very helpful to cut down on the email back and forth on availability.

This is me again - I also change all of my attorneys' calendar invites from other people to a "one-click" if they are not already in that format so they can just click on the link and not have to separately enter a code to enter the call. I also add any emails or documents to call invites that they may potentially need for the call to the invite (so they don't need to search their email for documents)

DP —You sound like you are wonderful at your job – I hope they appreciate you!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay, so I am an assistant to a very busy partner at a law firm. When I schedule meetings for him I ALWAYS block off any time I offered or someone else offered for a call in a bright color on his calendar marked "HOLD: call with so-and-so, TBD, or they will send conference info, or waiting to hear back to confirm and send our bridge/Zoom, etc.". That way when I look at his calendar for the next day or two, I know whether someone who was supposed to send an invite/bridge actually has or has not and also know not to offer that time slot to a different client - and follow-up if they haven't send a bridge or follow-up to confirm the time and send out the bridge on my end. I have his Outlook calendar color coded. LOL, sometimes I feel almost like I'm playing a video game...like Tetris or something with how often I schedule calls or move them around. Do you have an assistant or do you handle your own calendar?

For a busy person with lots of calls placeholders are super necessary for keeping track of the scheduling and not offering the same time slots to multiple people.

I also love worldtimebuddy.com, it makes scheduling calls between many people who are in multiple times zones much easier. Also, sending a Doodle to schedule call with a lot of people is very helpful to cut down on the email back and forth on availability.

This is me again - I also change all of my attorneys' calendar invites from other people to a "one-click" if they are not already in that format so they can just click on the link and not have to separately enter a code to enter the call. I also add any emails or documents to call invites that they may potentially need for the call to the invite (so they don't need to search their email for documents)

Wow. Ummm, are you looking to move firms? Because I'm awesome but have never had an admin approaching your level.

Just posted separately but totally agree. PP you sound amazing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, people who put info in an email (dial in etc) - for the love of God, just send it as a calendar invite. I can copy/paste on my own free time, of course, but how much easier for all to just get an invite with this info.

+100 I am a dinosaur compared to you people, but work with people younger than me in the volunteer space and their lack of technological know-how is astounding. Like how do they even work their own iPhone lol. Their kids probably set it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay, so I am an assistant to a very busy partner at a law firm. When I schedule meetings for him I ALWAYS block off any time I offered or someone else offered for a call in a bright color on his calendar marked "HOLD: call with so-and-so, TBD, or they will send conference info, or waiting to hear back to confirm and send our bridge/Zoom, etc.". That way when I look at his calendar for the next day or two, I know whether someone who was supposed to send an invite/bridge actually has or has not and also know not to offer that time slot to a different client - and follow-up if they haven't send a bridge or follow-up to confirm the time and send out the bridge on my end. I have his Outlook calendar color coded. LOL, sometimes I feel almost like I'm playing a video game...like Tetris or something with how often I schedule calls or move them around. Do you have an assistant or do you handle your own calendar?

For a busy person with lots of calls placeholders are super necessary for keeping track of the scheduling and not offering the same time slots to multiple people.

I also love worldtimebuddy.com, it makes scheduling calls between many people who are in multiple times zones much easier. Also, sending a Doodle to schedule call with a lot of people is very helpful to cut down on the email back and forth on availability.

This is me again - I also change all of my attorneys' calendar invites from other people to a "one-click" if they are not already in that format so they can just click on the link and not have to separately enter a code to enter the call. I also add any emails or documents to call invites that they may potentially need for the call to the invite (so they don't need to search their email for documents)

DP —You sound like you are wonderful at your job – I hope they appreciate you!!

LOL, thanks! My main work partner is always telling me I don't give him enough support, he needs more help, I need to step it up, etc., so it's nice to hear. I'm always looking for ways to step up my game on managing his schedule, tasks, etc., so I was really hoping to get some good advice on here. I'm older (almost 50), so I'm hoping there are new things I can discover to make things more efficient.

I'm still hoping that PP comes back and lets us know what task management system they use!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have an assistant and I usually send my own calendar invites, but on the rare occasion I forget to I feel responsible if the meeting fails to occur. That's probably silly but I do.

I also often just send an invite as my response to an email ask rather than respond to the email then send a calendar invite. That's gotten me into trouble because people expect an email response and miss the calendar invite - it's frustrating. My situation is tricky because I'm an academic, so I am constantly setting times with students and the power dynamic is strange, and they also aren't super accustomed to professionalism.

I've taken to openly asking people to send me an invite, especially if it was their invitation -- students, colleagues, higher-ups sometimes -- "thanks, we'll meet Thursday at 10. Can you please send me a calendar invite?" That at least clears up the confusion if it never comes, and then I do not feel responsible.

The last student I met with initially proposed meeting times between 5 and 10 pm on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. It is certainly possible she was in a different time zone, but she offered no explanation for the weird time. (We ultimately met during business hours.)

Similar approach, although I usually send an invite AND respond to the email because some people at my academic institution are really just not good about calendaring.

It's so annoying when people don't include the time zones in their emails regarding scheduling. I make it a habit to always specify the time zones of the slots I'm offering, and if I know someone is in a different time zone, I also include theirs (but sometimes you don't really know what time zone people are in) - like "5:00 pm ET/2:00 pm PT".