_posts/2017-02-15-wait-you-dont-control-your-calendar--signal-v-noise.markdown
---
title: Wait, You Don’t Control Your Calendar? | Signal v. Noise
date: 2017-02-15 16:31:00 -06:00
tags:
- work
- productivity
custom_type: link
link_url: https://m.signalvnoise.com/wait-you-dont-control-your-calendar-3a40f8f642fe
---
Jason Fried on controlling your calendar:
> As many people know — and as I didn’t — in most companies people don’t really control their own time. Everyone can see everyone else’s calendar, and people can pick away at each other’s time.
>
> “Ah, an opening! Let me grab it before someone else does!”
>
> “There’s a gap… Fill it!”
>
> “Someone blocked out 4 hours to themselves? Oh good! That means they’re available and not stuck in meetings… I can hit them up then.”
Almost every place that I've worked for had no respect for my time. If you get a calendar invite, you better damn well accept that invite. Anything short of that *felt* like insubordination. And here's the thing: lots of managers theoretically understand that interrupting someone's day with meetings makes them unproductive.
The problem comes in practice. "Meetings helps us all get on the same page." Yea, well we could do that in Slack or Basecamp. Next excuse. "There's nothing like face-to-face time to talk things out." Uhhh… yea there is. Hours of productive time where I can actually do the work you pay me for.
But hey! What do I care? I don't work full-time anymore. Thankfully, this type of crap doesn't stress me out these days.