Cubicle 101: Remove, Reschedule, Retire - How to eliminate meetings from your work schedule

Dudley B. Dawson's proposed logo for his
Calendar Cycling program.

If you find yourself sitting on conference calls or meetings all day long at work, you aren't alone.  There are thousands of corporations with a culture centered around unnecessary meetings and conference calls (Related: The 7 habits of highly defective conference call leaders).  Dysfunction is the norm, not the exception.  Simple emails transform into 30 minute debriefings, and 15 minute meetings turn into one hour information sessions.  Why?  Because corporations are filled with people that have nothing to do but fill their day with meaningless meetings.  It makes them feel as though they are accomplishing something.  The problem is that there are other employees that need to actually get work done.  More importantly, there are other employees, like myself, that have important fantasy football information to research (Related: The 8 types of web surfers).  What are these employees supposed to do when their day is filled with useless meetings?

Experts like to write books about how a business can transform out of this bureaucratic mess of meetings into well-oiled machines.  But large companies don't change overnight.  In fact, they rarely ever change.  As an employee, you don't have time to wait for your employer to change its ways.  These meetings are putting a serious dent into your web surfing time.  You ain't got time to bleed.

Fortunately, there is a way for employees to take matters into their own hands.  You can free up your workday from the cluttered mess of meetings.  More importantly, you can impress your boss at the same time.  How do you do it?  It's called "Calendar Cycling".

What is Calendar Cycling?

Calendar Cycling is a proactive and aggressive scheduling methodology used to prevent colleagues from filling up your schedule with meetings.  As a result, it creates more time for yourself during the workday to remain productive (Related: What is a deliverable?) and have time for great websites (like this one).  The methodology was created by Dudley B. Dawson on May 21st, 2009.  Over the course of three months, Dudley B. Dawson (PMP, SHRMS, POS, ISO9001-certified) tested and perfected the methodology during his employment with a large Fortune 500 employer.  The methodology's objective is simple: Eliminate unnecessary meetings by blocking your schedule with an organized series of meetings that continually cycle through your calendar.

How did Dudley B. Dawson think of this?

When Dudley B. Dawson started working for the Fortune 500 employer mentioned above, he noticed that there was an awful lot of meetings.  In fact, his calendar was full during his first week on the job.  It wasn't long before he realized his colleagues were incapable of producing anything of value if asked via a simple email, instant message, or short phone call.  In order to get anything done, he was forced into the world of endless meetings and his Outlook calendar quickly filled up beyond its capacity.

Then, on that wonderful day in May, Dudley had a revelation.  He thought to himself, "If everyone's calendar is as filled as my calendar, and if everyone receives as many calendar invites as I do, is anyone really going to notice if I start sending out multiple meetings that are consistently rescheduled and removed?"

And, thus, Calendar Cycling was born.

So how does Calendar Cycling work and how does it free up my schedule?

Calendar Cycling is really quite simple. 

1. Schedule multiple meetings when only one meeting was needed. 

2. Meetings should be at least double the length than what is needed.

3. Consistently manage your constant frenzy of meeting invites using the following logic:
   a. 50% of your meetings should be updated just prior to the meeting and push it out one week.
   b. 20% of your meetings should be canceled.  Only cancel meetings after having pushed them out at least one week.
   c. 30% of your meetings should actually take place and you should host these meetings.
   d. 10-15% of your canceled meetings should be canceled by removing the participants and updating the meeting.  This keeps the meeting on your calendar but removes it from the participant's calendar.

Using this mix, your calendar is in a constant state of flux.  The results are highly beneficial and they include:

1. The rescheduling and removal of meetings at the last hour prevents your Outlook calendar from appearing "available" at most times during the day.  Since you are busy and unavailable, it prevents others from scheduling meetings during times that you're already blocked off.

2. You'll receive praise from worthless managers who have noticed how busy you are with all of the meeting invites appearing in their inbox.

3. You'll discover that you now have 4-6 meeting-free hours available to you each day.  These can be used to actually produce work and still have the time to surf the web for a good portion of your day.

Why not just block off your schedule in Outlook without scheduling meetings?

The key is to make it appear as if you are working diligently on projects and tasks.  The consistent rescheduling and removal of meetings is always provided with excuses in the update.  Excuses like, "There was some changes in the approach we are taking on this project, so we decided to push out this meeting one week until there is more information", or "Due to some conflicts in scheduling, the meeting was pushed back a few days to ensure we have all the stakeholders available for this meeting".  No one ever checks the validity of these comments.  This allows you to give off the impression that you are working hard, when in fact you are doing very little.

How does Dudley B. Dawson sleep at night?

Better than you'd think, and better than the people with a busy, yet unproductive schedule.

---

Cubicle 101 is a recurring article in Dudley B. Dawson's Life in the Cubicle column.  Want to read more Cubicle 101 stories?  Click here!

Follow Dudley via:  Facebook | Twitter | MySpace | LinkedIn | Email | RSS
Read more Dudley: All stories | Most read stories | Seven Habits | Dear Dudley | Awkward Office Moments | Cubicle 101