Blocking out your work diary

[Quirkyme]

Do you block out your work diary intentionally so nosy people looking (let's be honest some people do look at others diaries for the sake of it) and others , don't feel they can use it to their advantage and rope you into things or put things in?

Do you literally do it for all your free spaces?

I've noticed that some people do it to 'look" like they're busy....

But I'm genuinely thinking of doing it so people don't think they can use it to for their own advantage...

Anyone else, any tips?

Ohh I need to do this for when I've finished work for the day. It's been worse since WFH, people think they can just ignore my working hours and book stuff in. There's only a small chance they're actually checking my calendar though.

I lock out a couple of hours each day as focus time, a half hour for lunch, and last hour every Friday that I use to update my to do list, admin and sorting inbox so it's easy to pick up the threads Monday morning. I also schedule in regular slots for weekly/monthly reports. I make sure there's some open time every day as people need to be able to get hold of me.

I have a colleague who blocks out her whole day and it's a pain in the arse as I can never find a slot when I need to arrange something with her. I always have the added faff of calling her to find out when she's free and it always turns out that she is available much more than her calendar shows. I think she does it to look busy, but it creates the opposite impression.

Our department agreed on a "daylight hour" at 12 to 1. So that we could all get out of our homes, take a turn round the park and get some daylight. Otherwise we're stuck in our homes on our laptops from dawn to dusk. It is in all our diaries and is sacrosanct.

I've come across people who spend their time nosing on other people's diaries, but I've never understood. Surely your diary/calendar is there for your own benefit?

Depends on the organisation. It's interesting almost the first feature Microsoft bolted onto it's email application Outlook was calendaring. (It's also interesting it is the single most useful feature completely missing from any Linux offerings ...).

You can get quite complex with the permissions in Exchange/Outlook if you're running a halfway sane Active Directory. Default is (well used to be) managers get to see the diaries of reports and reports get to see free/busy for their managers.

Things have got more complicated now with companies switching to other collaborative solutions that aren't Outlook/Exchange. Gmail/GSuite etc etc.

Big shout out to those that block 10 minutes a week for "diary maintenance" (Yes, I have )

@Triffid1

I've come across people who spend their time nosing on other people's diaries, but I've never understood. Surely your diary/calendar is there for your own benefit? I definitely block time out to do things - work or personal - and it's usually in my calendar as a reminder to me and/or to help my EA when making new diary entries for me. If my diary was open to more people, I'd have to put more in because, for example, my diary doesn't specify school run days unless it's an unusual day for me to do it, but she knows which days I do school run and which ones DH does and also what time I'm usually willing to start meetings - without me having to block out all the time I'm UNWILLING to do meetings. Eg I routinely sit down to work by 8:30 but unless I specifically tell her, she doesn't put anything in my diary before 9:15.

I LOVE a bit of diary stalking! Get some very juicy intel that way

Yes, I block out time when I go to the gym in the day. My work is flexible in that you just need to get the work done, but I am still not going to say 'sorry can't come to the meeting I'm in the gym' so this avoids people booking things on my behalf.

I have lunch blocked out by my company but people instead see this time as when everyone is definitely free so I usually end up working it.

@HotChoc10

I block out when I want to work on particular tasks, even if it's not a meeting. Happy if it discourages unnecessary meetings but I'd accept one that was put in!

This

I block out the first hour of the day as focus time a couple of days a week on WFH days. I do a pre-work workout those days and sometimes shower and then deal with any urgent emails in my dressing gown before getting dressed at about 10. It stops people trying to get me on video calls until I'm ready. I also block out lunchtime if I know I have something I want to get away from my desk for (lunch out or a walk).

When I'm in the office people just come over and talk to me so it's less effective! (But I obviously am dressed).

I LOVE a bit of diary stalking! Get some very juicy intel that way

Many years ago, when I worked for a just-gone-plc software house (don't go looking, they aren't there anymore) and they started having a wobble, I discovered that I could see one senior managers diary by ... workaround ... in Outlook. Every time an "offsite planning" meeting went in the diary on Thursday, I knew the next day there would be a round of redundancies. This happened every month for a while. Shreds your nerves I can tell you.

Mine is colour coded. Red means cannot be moved, Amber means can be moved if necessary and after discussion, green means I have blocked it out to do a specific piece of work, meetings can be put in but I will need to find time elsewhere to do it, and grey means I have arranged something for somebody else, I'm not attending. It seems to work with my team.

It's been worse since WFH, people think they can just ignore my working hours and book stuff in.

God yes, as well as assuming I can do five hours of back-to-back meetings without so much as five minutes for a loo break between them, and that it's OK for meetings to run on into the evening because we don't commute any more so it's OK to use that time for work, right? Wrong

I now block out some time in my diary every day at times when I want to be catching up AND when I don't want meetings to happen. But I still get people trying to override it, and it's ALWAYS a "I know this is nothing to do with you and you'll have nothing to contribute but would you like to come anyway so I can look like I'm running a really big important meeting" type thing. If a meeting IS necessary, use the Scheduling Assistant for fuck's sake. That's what it's there for.

@MsAgnesDiPesto
“ Of course they do! In MS Outlook you can just create a new appointment and you don’t need to invite anyone to it! That’s how I show my travel time and site visits, and other times I’m unavailable. Teams then picks it up and shows me as busy at those times so I don’t get calls, and it’s clear to anyone looking for a meeting time that I won’t be available.”

I think you’ve misunderstood- the question was whether people can just book an appointment in someone else’s diary without it being accepted.

I do block out time if I have something I need to work on, just so I'm less likely to get meeting requests during that time (or can decline them if I do).

I did have an hour blocked out for lunch, but no one took any notice.

I try to leave some time though. It's frustrating when you need a meeting with someone and they have literally no time in their diary ever. But when you ask them they manage to find time.

I think you’ve misunderstood- the question was whether people can just book an appointment in someone else’s diary without it being accepted.

Depends on how your place works. There are two ways to get a meeting into a diary. Either directly book it (which you do in your own diary) and send out invites. People can set up their Outlook to deal with meeting invites how they like (automatically accept, tentatively accept, or always require a manual reply). Alternatively, if you have delegate permission you can book it straight into a diary. The only time I've seen that done is for senior managers who had PAs that managed their diaries in full anyway.

@DilemmaDelilah

Mine is colour coded. Red means cannot be moved, Amber means can be moved if necessary and after discussion, green means I have blocked it out to do a specific piece of work, meetings can be put in but I will need to find time elsewhere to do it, and grey means I have arranged something for somebody else, I'm not attending. It seems to work with my team.

My main work calendar is the same except that I use the official Outlook references. "Out of office" for nursery pick-up, afternoon off or meetings working elsewhere (as that's private) means you can try my mobile but I mint not answer and can't be at my desk, "Busy" for meetings, "Tentative" for blocks of time for a task that would need to be slotted in elsewhere and that turns to "Busy" when it's been shunted so much it can no longer be rearranged. I try to keep as much as possible free.

Most people I work with are similar, but some use "Busy" for working on their own too, and that just leads to wasting time on messages to figure out when they're free. One colleague has a very complicated system of colours; I know he has pink for clients and purple can't shift, but no idea what yellow, blue, green etc are for. He claims it makes life easier. I copied the system a bit for the home calendar, so DS holiday time is blue, DH stuff is yellow, my stuff is red, weekly reminders like bins and milk box are grey, family booked outings are pink etc. It helps a bit in picking out free days to see people but I'm still figuring out if the effort is worth it.

My team all share the same electronic diary - we also use it to book meeting and training rooms and smaller rooms for private meetings
We all constantly check each other’s diaries to see who is free for short notice client work or to arrange meetings with each other
I don’t use it to stalk people although I will question people who have blocked out say 1/2 a day to do something that I think should take an hour!
We do have a golden rule not to share availability outside the organisation though - unless it’s a definite no eg they are on leave

If people put stuff in my diary I feel very empowered and will reject it even if the time is free (unless I’ve said they can take that slot).

Just as simple as saying “apologies but I have to meet a deadline so can’t do that time”. Or just apologies, and then give them other options.

You don’t have to accept every diary invite.

I use viva to schedule focus time. I need to otherwise I can't do any bloody work because calls are back to back. My firm is starting to clamp down on that though with some protocols that internal meetings have to have 15 mins between them.

@girafferaffle

Ohh I need to do this for when I've finished work for the day. It's been worse since WFH, people think they can just ignore my working hours and book stuff in. There's only a small chance they're actually checking my calendar though.

Do you not have ooo blocked out? I do and any request is automatically declined. Best thing ever!

I can also set my ooo hours on my work phone.

[quote SheWoreYellow]@MsAgnesDiPesto
“ Of course they do! In MS Outlook you can just create a new appointment and you don’t need to invite anyone to it! That’s how I show my travel time and site visits, and other times I’m unavailable. Teams then picks it up and shows me as busy at those times so I don’t get calls, and it’s clear to anyone looking for a meeting time that I won’t be available.”

I think you’ve misunderstood- the question was whether people can just book an appointment in someone else’s diary without it being accepted.[/quote]
Well, that’s been the same forever - you send a meeting invitation and it appears in the invitees’ calendars as ‘tentative’ until they accept or decline. You also get an email in your inbox to say the invitation has arrived, and can accept or decline from there. I get lots of invitations but just decline them (with a suggestion of a better time) if they don’t suit me. But as all our calendars are open, I hope the person setting it up has already checked to see if I’m available at the time they are proposing - and 9 times out of 10 they have.

Blocking out time is crucial for stress management in some jobs and for some people
Some people struggle to say no to anything and get overloaded with meetings and workload- blocking out time is crucial to regain some control and say no without actually having to say it
In some jobs if you didn’t block out you’d go back to back meetings. Long days, no lunch, not drinking enough, not going to loo enough, sitting on chairs for long periods- this is not healthy
Putting in at least 3 blocks of 30 mins per day can make all the difference.
Then back that with some whole days blocked out (or half days) to actually do stuff- otherwise you end up with a growing to do list and no time to actually do or think and plan what you need to be able to complete it. That is where stress really starts to build up
On line diaries are great- but they have allowed people to treat someone else’s time as their own . People don’t pop over to someone’s desk to see if they’re free for a quick chat now- everything, no matter how small, gets meetingarilsed

Also when you lock your diary, set your messenger system to “away” to ensure you don’t then get buzzed by people- that can be as damaging as always being in meetings.
I have also been known to put a hand written sign on my desk saying “ do not disturb until x o clock” when it was getting silly.

I use my calendar as a task list and block out time for pieces of work to remind me to do them. I’ll move them around to accommodate meeting requests until the deadline looms, though.

In addition to that I refuse to spend more than three consecutive hours on conference calls, so if that’s a risk I block out half an hour either side of what’s already there. People still send requests, but I decline and don’t feel bad- it’s not reasonable to expect someone to sit at their desk for that long without being able to get a drink or nip to the loo. I do also block out lunch breaks but I generally cave on those, with much resentment.

In theory everyone can see each other’s calendars so should avoid times people have blocked out. In practice, if you need a meeting with more than two or three other people you can’t ever find a time everyone is free in the next month, so overbooking is inevitable. It’s up to each person to stand up for themselves and say no when it’s too much.

Work diaries aren't private - they're available so people can see when you're busy/free/arrange meetings with groups of people.

If you have a particular something that you want to hide then mark it as private.

If this thread is anything to go by there's a whole bunch of CF and chancers out there in Outlook-land.

I can see the calendars of my direct reports but never felt the need to look at them for the sake of it. I can only see if they are busy or out of office anyway not what the specific meeting is and to be honest I don’t care as they are all working independently. As long as work is done I don’t need to micro manage

Only time I would look at a diary is when scheduling a meeting invite and again it will be a block of blue if busy or purple if out of office. I just then schedule when they are free

Personally I will block time out for lunch or tasks as and when I need the time