Blogger: Bill Pray
One of the challenges with calendaring and scheduling technology in the enterprise is that people’s time is intensely personal. While the tools are used to bring together what is, hopefully, the right people at the right time in the workplace to get things done… they are dependent upon the individual’s time and availability. As David Allen puts it in his book Ready for Anything, “We’re all alone in this together.” Time is part of the equation for workplace, as it is half of what the employee promises to the employer – their time and their efforts.
Because of this, each employee’s needs for calendaring and scheduling becomes unique, because no two employees spend their time in exactly the same way. As a result, technology struggles to meet the needs of every unique situation. This is compounded, obviously, when trying to bring together workers through scheduling using calendar technologies that are unable to show and account for each employee’s unique needs.
Therefore, technology and worker need to meet in the middle. Calendaring and scheduling tools need to improve in their ability to function across collaboration environments and be more intuitive. The information worker needs to effectively use these tools to manage their time. David Allen quotes Peter F. Drucker in the same chapter as the quote above: “This responsibility for thinking through what one’s contribution should be and one’s own responsibility as a knowledge worker rests on each individual. In the knowledge organization it becomes everybody’s responsibility, regardless of his or her particular job.” Calendars are the tool, time management is the responsibility.
“You’re the only one playing your game.” – David Allen, Ready for Anything.
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