ACALENDAR REVIEW CODE

Can we sort events into a few piles and figure out where the time went? (Similar to rough-counting where we actually spend our development efforts.) Let's create and color code a few categories that match the broad responsibilities of a product leader: Perhaps a 10-minutes-or-less inventory of what’s actually on our current calendar.

How can we apply some good product thinking here? A Quick-and-Dirty Tabulation with Optional Color CodingĪpplying some Agile 101, it’s handy to understand a problem before we start fixing things. It’s easy to feel guilty and overwhelmed. Just as we’ll never (ever!) get to the end of the backlog, we’ll never be able to accept all incoming invitations. But for calendars, the scarce resource is time rather than development capacity. At our company, can anyone grab open time on my calendar without asking me first? Can the executive team? Are fellow employees offended when I decline meeting requests?įor me, this is similar to the core product prioritization problem: an infinite set of demands that each individual requestor considers to be extremely important/urgent. Sneaking out of Zoom sessions (camera off!) for body breaks, hoping that no one will notice.Mentally and emotionally exhausted, with unsustainable pace and significant personal cost.Spending evening, early morning and weekend time trying to catch up.Complaints from people who can’t get on our calendar.Little time to do the work/action items that come out of meetings.Work week calendar is almost 100% meeting’d up.Most product leaders (and managers at every level) report these symptoms: We often feel a lack of agency (control), where our jam-packed calendars drive us from one discussion to the next - with no time to catch our breath or complete action items from the last six meetings. We look at their chock-a-block schedules, and talk about the struggle to address important things when faced with 7+ hours/day of meetings. My product leader coachees and I sometimes do calendar reviews.

Acalendar review