Is web 2.0 about to change the way we schedule? -
Until recently,
digital calendars and scheduling tools were just copies of the diaries,
organizers and day timers that still compete for desk space with cell phones,
laptops, desktops, and our other digital lifestyle accoutrements. Nothing
seemed capable of replacing the big handwritten reminders in red and black, but
new innovations in web 2.0 technology might have the answer.
Until recently,
digital calendars and scheduling tools were just copies of the diaries,
organizers and day timers that still compete for desk space with cell phones,
laptops, desktops, and our other digital lifestyle accoutrements. Nothing
seemed capable of replacing the big handwritten reminders in red and black, but
new innovations in web 2.0 technology might have the answer.
Despite the explosion
of digital tools, we still waste up to 30% of our time on mindless tasks like
trying to schedule appointments. Without email, cell phones and some kind
of calendar, it would be near impossible to schedule a basic conference
call. First we pick an appointment timetable, send out an email and then
follow up with phone calls. Now comes the hard part; Smith can only make
it one day, Johnson the next day, Cohen the right day, but only at 3 pm,
etc… The real timewaster comes from trying to resolve the schedule so
that everyone can agree on a time.
Maybe the online
services like Yahoo calendar, Google calendar, 30boxes or Hipcal can
help? With them, you can post all the information on a shared web
calendar and everyone can check the schedule without you having to send out
reminders. That’ll save you a few emails, but it won’t help you resolve
the core problem. Some collaborative calendars let people edit the
content, allowing them to change the time based on their availability.
Great, now every contact is moving the calendar to fit his or her schedule and
you’re still no closer to fixing the appointment or timetable for
everyone. So it’s back to the phone calls and email tag while you try to
juggle everyone’s preferences until you find a compromise. Despite this
lingering difficulty, it has to be said that online calendars have incorporated
some very useful tricks like maps, SMS functions and chat all of which help
unify once disparate tools.
Even if it
takes time to organize the event, at least we can all find it, chat about it
and get the SMS reminder.
But it’s not all bad
news on the organization front.
Some
event specific sites like appointmentquest have created simple online tools for
suggesting and accepting times.
It keeps
you day timer up-to-date, lets people book times online based on your
availability and syncs with Outlook.
Sadly it’s a paid subscription service, which leaves most of us out of
the loop.
Renkoo is a free service for
organizing social gatherings with chat, SMS and email.
It’s a simple formula for debating when,
where and who with your friends, but for business it’s a little too
informal.
But there is one newcomer who
might be heading in the right direction.
WikiTimer.com ( http://www.wikitimer.com ) is a little
digital assistant cross scheduling tool that took a different view.
Rather than simply try and digitize or improve appointment books and calendars,
WikiTimer decided to focus on the real problem of resolving the schedules and
actually booking appointments. It’s got the collaborative calendar that
lets you and your contacts highlight your available times, but behind that it’s
got an algorithmic problem solver, which uses the information to actually
schedule the appointment for you. While you sit back, the WikiTimer
communicates with your contacts and politely engineers their schedules toward a
compromise. Without any stress or wasted time, the automatic scheduler
has resolved your appointment. It’s like having your very own intelligent
digital assistant.
If the WikiTimer is a
sign of things to come, then it’s fair to say that we’ll be chucking out the
old and welcoming in the new at long last. For business people, the home
employed, freelancers, and those of us who get forced into arranging family
reunions, this kind of tool will take the pain our of getting things
done. That said, until I can convince Great Aunt Alice and her sisters to
go online, web 2.0 isn’t going to solve every problem.
Disclaimer: Dime-Co.Com is an online information article and video article network. All articles, video articles, comments, and other features herein are for informational purposes only and are provided "as is" without warranties, representations or guarantees of any kind. The views and opinions expressed in an article, comments, links or blogs are the author's own, and not necessarily those of dime-co.com's owners. For full disclaimer, please read our TOS.