Changing Times
It is crazy that when I find myself wanting to change the times of meetings, I just don’t think about this naturally. I have to force myself as ask the question “What does this do to their schedule”.
Example. I’ve set up a meeting to have a coffee and discuss a new project or event for 3pm on Thursday. Because I know that I’ll have to leave the office at 2:30 to get there, I tell the academic I am only able to work on the conference until 2:30. I am okay with 3pm, because I can get back to the office by 4:30 at the latest, and do another hour and a half before I get so hungry I have to go home. If its a one hour meeting and it takes half an hour to get there, its actually a two hour committment.
What if you ask if I can move the meeting an hour forward? I have to tell the plan before that that thing have changed. What if it is an hour later? That means I won’t be able to get back to the office with enough time to do any meaningful work, so I will just go home early. In the first instance I have to make a request to someone else to change the time, and in the other situation I end up losing another hour and a half of meaningful working time.
Once I set the time, I am more worried about changing it for the sake of others, than myself. Although my own interests do play into that as well.
