~ General: Scheduling Meetings

I live and die by my calendar and I strive to keep it as up-to-date as possible.  This helps me to better plan my day, balance my personal and professional commitments, and generally keep myself sane.  If you need to chat, I suggest scheduling a meeting that fits into our schedules.  When you look at my calendar, you will see meetings where my time is shown in one of the following six “categories.” Here is how to interpret my calendar:

[tabgroup type=”default”]
[tab title=”Free “](Appears as white) – This is pretty obvious.  I don’t have any meetings scheduled at this time and should be available to meet with you.[/tab]
[tab title=”Busy “](Appears as solid blue) – I have accepted a meeting at this time that I intend to attend.  Do not schedule a meeting with me during this time unless specifically instructed to.[/tab]
[tab title=”Out of Office“](Appears as purple) – This is a personal commitment during while I do not intend on checking messages regularly.  If a whole/half day is shown as Out of Office, I am taking CTO.  Do not schedule a meeting with me during this time unless specifically instructed to.[/tab]
[tab title=”Tentative “](Appears as striped blue) – I may have a conflict at this time, however the commitment is not firm and the meeting can be moved or skipped.  Feel free to propose a conflicting time if free time is unavailable or doesn’t align with your schedule.  This is either:

• A meeting I haven’t accepted yet
• An optional meeting that I would like to attend but can be flexible
• Time that I’m holding to complete some other task[/tab]

[tab title=”Working Elsewhere“](Appears as dotted blue)  I use this category to capture when I may be driving to or from a client site.  I am available during this time, but may not be able to review documents, read emails, or think critically about complex topics (I am driving you know).  You can propose a conflicting meeting time if you can work within these constraints.[/tab]
[tab title=”Free, Outside of Working Hours“](Appears as grey) – These are times outside of my normal working hours.  You can schedule meetings during these time, but I prefer that my meetings fall in normal working hours.[/tab]
[/tabgroup]

If you need to talk with me, I recommend looking at my Skype presence as well as my calendar before reaching out.