Writing about meetings and scheduling
Things we have learned from watching groups try to agree on a time. Nothing here asks for your email.
Scheduling
- WhatsApp poll or scheduling poll? Picking a date in a group chatWhen a WhatsApp poll is enough to pick a date, where it breaks down, what the August 2026 update changed, and why iMessage polls fail in mixed groups. 5 min read.
- Can you make a poll in Google Calendar? What Google offers insteadGoogle Calendar has no voting poll. What Find a time, appointment schedules and Gemini do instead, a Google Forms workaround, and when to use a poll link. 6 min read.
- Outlook Scheduling Poll: who can use it, and what to do if you can'tFindTime is gone and Outlook's Scheduling Poll replaced it. Who can create one, who can vote, its limits, and what to use with a personal account. 6 min read.
- Is Doodle still free? What the free plan includes in 2026What Doodle's free plan includes and what it costs to upgrade, checked against Doodle's own pages in October 2026, and what to use for one free poll. 5 min read.
- Is there a When2meet app? Using it on your phone, and what to use insteadThere is no official When2meet app. How to fill in the grid on a phone, the lookalike apps and sites to avoid, and when a simpler poll works better. 5 min read.
- How far in advance should you schedule a meeting?The notice period that gets people to attend, why booking too far out is its own failure, and what changes when the group is external. 6 min read.
- Why nobody is replying to your meeting pollSix reasons a scheduling poll stalls, such as offering too many options or sending it at the wrong hour, and what to change about the next one. 6 min read.
Meetings
- Why recurring meetings outlive their purposeRecurring meetings are easy to create and hard to cancel. How they pile up, what they cost, and a short review to run once a quarter. 6 min read.
- What makes a meeting agenda worth writingWhy most agendas are lists of topics that change nothing, the one property that makes them useful, and a three-line version that works for most meetings. 5 min read.
- Do you actually need a meeting?A short test for whether something needs synchronous time, what belongs in writing instead, and the two cases where a meeting is the cheaper option. 5 min read.
- How long should a meeting be?Why the default hour is an artefact of calendar software, what different kinds of meeting need, and how to shorten one without losing the point of it. 6 min read.
- How many people should be in a meeting?Why meetings get worse as they get bigger, the group sizes that work for deciding, discussing and informing, and how to cut an invite list. 7 min read.
Remote work
- Async or sync: which work belongs in a meetingA practical split between work that needs people at the same time and work that does not, and why distributed teams get the line wrong in both directions. 7 min read.
- What back-to-back meetings cost youWhy a calendar with no gaps produces less work, what each switch between tasks costs, and practical ways to keep gaps between meetings. 6 min read.
Templates
- How to write a meeting reminder email, with templatesWhen to send a meeting reminder, what to put in it so people turn up prepared, and polite templates for clients, colleagues, groups and no-replies. 3 min read.
- How to reschedule a meeting politely, with templatesHow to move a meeting without looking careless: apologise once, give a short reason and offer new times in the same message, with templates to copy. 4 min read.
- How to write a meeting invitation email, with templatesWhat a meeting invitation email needs to say, how to word the subject line, and templates for team meetings, one-to-ones, clients and external guests. 4 min read.
- How to ask for someone's availability, with templatesHow to ask when someone is free: what to include, how to word the request for colleagues, clients and groups, and templates you can copy. 5 min read.