My boss can see the details of my calendar, and I can see the details of hers. For personal things, I will sometimes put "dr. appt." and other times I categorize it as a private appt., and then she sees it as busy/private appt.

When I first started using private appointments it drove her crazy, and she would ask me what my private appointment was... lol.

Just save the appointment as private. We have title access to everyone’s calendars at my office as sometimes when scheduling meetings we need to see if something blocked is moveable to accommodate everyone’s calendar. We use private appointments for personal stuff and for meetings others shouldn’t see (like if I have to meet with someone over a policy violation or something, others don’t need to see that).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do this with my staff, my calendar is available for my boss, and my calendar is also available to my staff. If I have “1:1 with so and so” and my boss has a high level meeting he wants me at, he knows it’s probably okay to schedule me and I’ll shift my other stuff. I mark private appointments as such so the details aren’t viewable. It isn’t micromanaging so much as just making it easier for people to schedule things.

This is why my boss doesn't have access. He can't decide what's important for me or my team as a leader. I make it a point to keep my 1:1s when at all possible. My boss often cancels and moves mine. It's frustrating and shows a lack of understanding priority - thus why he can't decide mine.

Huh? As a leader of a large team, a big part of my job is prioritizing, aka choosing what’s important. Your mindset would be a red flag.

I share my calendar with my team and most of them share theirs with me as well (although I do not insist). They know what they need to get done, and can thus schedule meetings around my most important ones. Likewise, I can generally avoid conflicts for their meetings that I know are important.

Occasionally, there is something that looks flexible to me, I schedule over it, and they just tell me if they don’t agree.

This strategy also allows them to block their calendar to others while still giving me options to meet with them.

Anonymous wrote:Micromanager alert! Good luck.

Yup! Went through this at my last job. Supervisor wanted me to put Outlook to good use and record all appointments.It wasn't enough to say I have a doctor's appointment at 4, need to leave half an hour early. She wanted it in the calendar. She did the same, I guess to model how she wanted it done. Even put things in her calendar like XX birthday, leave early, wedding trip, you name it.

And she was the worst micromanager I, have, ever, worked, for.

Anonymous wrote:I do this with my staff, my calendar is available for my boss, and my calendar is also available to my staff. If I have “1:1 with so and so” and my boss has a high level meeting he wants me at, he knows it’s probably okay to schedule me and I’ll shift my other stuff. I mark private appointments as such so the details aren’t viewable. It isn’t micromanaging so much as just making it easier for people to schedule things.

This is why my boss doesn't have access. He can't decide what's important for me or my team as a leader. I make it a point to keep my 1:1s when at all possible. My boss often cancels and moves mine. It's frustrating and shows a lack of understanding priority - thus why he can't decide mine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Manager here- don't list private appts on your work calendar. Just write "Sick Leave- OOO" or "Annual leave- OOO"

Yup. I am a manager and can see all of the calendars of my direct reports. The point is twofold: 1) know where their time is begin spent (not to micromanage, but to see if I need to adjust resources, or if there is a brewing issue in one area that I should get more involved in, or make sure the right people are involved.) and 2) know when people are out of the office.

That being said, there is a "private function" that people can use that just shows the time as "private." I can't see them. But I don't know why people would use them. Whatever is in there is a still a record that could be accessed at any time. Just keep the personal stuff off work systems...

How does one's meeting schedule inform whether resources are being allocated appropriately? Wouldn't you just need to speak to your team? Meetings can't tell you what's brewing. People do. You're likely nosey or lazy with this approach.

Only busy and non-busy times. I do mark my time OOO as OOO (purple in outlook) so people can see if I'm in a meeting or not around. That's ALL anyone needs. I find it weird when I can see a colleague's meetings. It's not just about your privacy, it's the privacy of those booking meetings with you.

I do this with my staff, my calendar is available for my boss, and my calendar is also available to my staff. If I have “1:1 with so and so” and my boss has a high level meeting he wants me at, he knows it’s probably okay to schedule me and I’ll shift my other stuff. I mark private appointments as such so the details aren’t viewable. It isn’t micromanaging so much as just making it easier for people to schedule things.

Anonymous wrote:You can click the lock button and make appts private on your calendar. Time will still be blocked.

This. Uou can also allow people to see meeting topics but not details - or nothing but blocks. You can change visibility permissions in outlook.

I’ve found the practice around this to vary depending on the org culture.