Scheduling 101 - Deep Dive #1

In Scheduling 101, I discussed some key questions that will help you evaluate the information being sent to you in a scheduling request. In this deep dive, we are going to walk through the first question: "Is this meeting related to another topic already on calendar or is it time-sensitive?"

The answer to this question helps identify any situational needs the meeting request may have. By knowing if the meeting is related to another meeting on calendar or time-sensitive, you can make sure that the meeting is scheduled timely.

What do I mean by "related to another topic already on calendar"? This means the meeting being requested is based on the scheduling of another meeting. This might be a prep meeting, a debrief, a follow-up with a subsect of attendees or with a different stakeholder.

Example 1a:

If there is a customer meeting on Wednesday, and this is a request for a prep meeting for that customer meeting, then it must be scheduled before Wednesday.

Example 1b:

This is a follow-up or debrief after a meeting with the CEO, then is must be scheduled after the meeting with the CEO, but also within 1 business day so the information is fresh and acted upon timely.

What do I mean by "time-sensitive"? This means the meeting being requested has a pending deadline and the issue being discussed in the meeting is related to said deadline.

Example 2a:

This is a meeting request to make a "go/no-go" decision on a launch. The date for the launch is in 15 days and the team needs at least a week to pull the launch if they decide it's a "no-go." Based on this information, the meeting would need to be scheduled between now and at least 7 days before the deadline.

Example 2b:

This is a meeting request to review a document/PowerPoint before the review with the VP on Friday. Based on this information, the meeting would need to be scheduled between now and Thursday morning, to ensure the team has time to make changes and/or corrections before the review with the VP.

Let's dig into the other questions in more depth.

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