In earlier years, this annual collection lined particular person apps. This 12 months, we’re taking a look at all-in-one options along with methods to assist in 2021. Welcome to day 13 of 21 Days of Productivity in 2021.
Setting appointments with different individuals is troublesome. Most of the time, we guess at a date and time after which begin the “is this time bad for you? No, that time is bad for me, how about…” dance. It is less complicated with co-workers since you may see every others’ calendars. You simply have to search out that magic spot that’s good for nearly everybody who must be on the decision. However, for freelancers managing private calendars, the dance is a routine a part of establishing calls and conferences.
This scheduling is a specific problem for somebody like me. Since I interview individuals for my weekly productiveness podcast, discovering a time that works for each of us could be further difficult.
Finally, considered one of my company mentioned, “Hey, to get on my calendar, go to this URL, and pick a time that works for both of us.”
This idea was, to be sincere, a revelation. There is software program (and companies) on the market that enables an individual requesting the assembly to decide a time that’s good for each events! No extra forwards and backwards making an attempt to determine it out! It additionally implies that I may give the particular person being interviewed management over their very own availability.
There are a number of industrial and cloud-hosted options that present this service. The finest open supply various I’ve used is Easy!Appointments. It is exceptionally straightforward to arrange and has a useful WordPress plug-in that enables customers to place the request kind on a web page or submit.
Easy!Appointments is geared extra in the direction of a service group, like a helpdesk or a handyman service, with the power so as to add a number of individuals (aka Service Providers) and provides them particular person schedules. It additionally permits for varied service varieties. While I solely have it arrange for one particular person (me) and one service (an interview), for a helpdesk, it may need 4 or 5 individuals and companies like “Set up new laptop,” “New hire setup,” and “Set up new printer.”
Easy!Appointments also can synchronize with Google Calendar on a per-person foundation to mechanically add or replace any new appointments on their calendar. There are discussions of their problem tracker about assist for syncing to extra backends. Easy!Appointments additionally helps a number of languages, time zones, and a complete host of different helpful options.
It has been liberating to have the ability to say, “You can book your interview on this web page,” and spending much less time negotiating once we are each accessible to speak. That provides each myself and the opposite particular person extra time to do extra productive issues. Whether you might be a person, like me, or a service group, Easy!Appointments is a giant assist when scheduling time with different individuals.