How frustrating is it when you try to schedule a meeting in Outlook and end up going back and forth, back and forth, trying to find a time that works with everyone’s schedule? Yes, Outlook is great if you can look at other’s schedules, but so many people still do not utilize all of it’s features so it can be difficult to tell if someone actually has a prior commitment or just blocked out space for a tentative event.
I first read about TimeBridge on VentureBeat, an online news blog, last week. It’s a two and a half year old startup that just launched their flagship scheduling product on December 11, 2007.
Here’s how it works: The program, which is a small download for Microsoft Outlook users or a web app for Google adherents, syncs with the user’s calendar to show which time slots are open. The user, who we’ll assume is initiating the meeting, can then highlight blocks of time that would be acceptable for a meeting.
Invitations are then sent off to the other participants, who can see all the times the organizer has available and choose their own set of open time slots. Through a process of elimination, the times that other participants can’t make it to a meeting are ruled out, and a confirmation for the best time is sent out to everyone.
I gave it a try for myself and have to say it is quite handy. I really like the tool and others who tested the web application (they didn’t want to download the software quite yet) had good luck with it. In the end, we all received a final confirmation for our meeting. I will definitely continue to use this software, especially for meetings with those outside the company. I end up sending a whole list of times and I’m looking forward to cutting down on the email!
