Team Meetings in a Row

When meetings are scheduled chaotically, planning time is difficult.

When meetings are always at the same time, planning is easy.

Imagine this scenario: a team is implementing Scrum and needs to schedule regular Scrum meetings. Or a new team has come together to work on a new project. In short, it’s time to set up several recurring meetings in the calendar.

Typically, the responsibility for creating these meetings falls on the manager, team lead, scrum master, or another key person.

The calendar of this manager or team lead is probably already filled with a multitude of events and meetings.

The manager's calendar is full of events, often scheduled chaotically. — In this screenshot, it’s not too bad; the density of events can be even higher.

So, the manager schedules regular meetings with the team in any available slots:

The manager schedules meetings with the team in available slots. — Our team’s events are shown in blue.

And here’s how the calendar looks for the other team members:

For the team, there’s almost another meeting every day besides the stand-up, but it’s at different times each day. — Meetings are scheduled chaotically.

The team has added a meeting on 4 out of 5 days, but at different times each day. Now, a developer wants to book an appointment with a doctor or receive a delivery. Imagine her dialogue with the hospital or courier:

— What time works for you?
— Well, on Monday after 12 PM, on Tuesday from 12 PM to 2 PM, then from 4 PM until evening. On Wednesday after 1 PM, — the lady at reception is no longer listening, — on Thursday after 12 PM and until 5 PM, and on Friday from 12 PM to 4 PM, and then after 5 PM!
— Would Thursday at 6 PM work?
— No, I said until 5 PM on Thursday!
— Until 5 PM? Then how about Tuesday at 3 PM?
— But I can't do Tuesday at 3 PM..

It would be much simpler if the meetings were always at the same time:

Team meetings are always at the same time.

This would require the manager to coordinate with another team to move their meeting:

The team's meetings are every day at the same time. — The manager will need to negotiate with another team to move ‘Sync with team 2’.

As a result, each team member can easily plan their daily routine:

Easily schedule lunch, workouts, and English classes according to routine. — Each team member can easily plan their daily routine.

Additionally, such a schedule cultivates a habit that there may be a team meeting at 4 PM; hence one should eat beforehand or commit code or prepare in some way.

It also helps reduce missed meetings for those who have fewer meetings and check their calendars less frequently — again due to habit.

Aligning all meetings to one time can be challenging. It requires negotiating with participants from other meetings and finding available slots.

Once, our Friday meeting did not fall into its usual time:

On Friday, the meeting started half an hour earlier.

One participant was late by about 20 minutes: “Sorry, I thought we were starting at 4 PM…”

If the nature of the meetings allows and the team agrees, all meetings can be scheduled for one day:

The manager scheduled all team meetings for Wednesday. — Had to move ‘OKR Sync’ meeting.

Then the team will know that it’s best not to plan anything for Wednesday while being free on other days.

In general, it’s good to occupy rows or columns in your calendar:

Occupy one day in your calendar or the same time across different days.

If you are that manager with a packed calendar, try aligning meetings by teams and types.

For example, Team One has stand-ups at 11:00 AM and other meetings at 4:00 PM; Team Two has stand-ups at 11:30 AM and large meetings at 5:00 PM. One-on-ones start at 12:30 PM and leadership meetings at 1:30 PM.

And your teams will thank you.