We use Google Calendar. Use your Cantilever Google account for all Cantilever-related scheduling. All meetings should be scheduled. Spontaneous chats are OK, but we like to have a clear record of what meetings occurred and what they were for.
Scheduling Meetings
When scheduling a meeting with fellow team members, ask if a certain date and time work for them. Meanwhile, you can send out an invite to a meeting knowing that doing so does not guarantee a meeting. It is simply opening up a negotiating process for the meeting time. The meeting will be confirmed once the other meeting attendees all RSVP "yes." A meeting may be canceled or rescheduled by other meeting attendees and is not official until all parties agree on the meeting time.
Please make sure that any meeting you schedule has a clear Agenda. This will be used as the start of the meeting notes.
Please use the Zoom integration for Google Calendar when scheduling a Zoom meeting. This ensures that the meeting appears on everyone else’s calendar in a uniform manner to our other meetings.
The meeting title should clearly explain the meeting's topic.
"Hold" Meetings
When scheduling a meeting that hinges on the RSVP of an external person who has not yet officially responded, schedule a "Hold" meeting. This will alert our internal team members to reserve the time for them.
The title of the meeting then is "Hold: Whatever Topic."
Cancellations / Rescheduling
Since Cantilever team members work across a broad range of time zones, please be mindful that some people have to wake up early or stay up late to make it to certain meetings. Accordingly, meeting cancelations should be rare. If you are the party responsible for canceling / rescheduling a meeting, it is your responsibility to ensure that every attendee is alerted to the change.
Sharing Your Team Calendar with Coworkers
You can share the main calendar for your account or another calendar you created.
- On your computer, open Google Calendar. You can't share calendars from the Google Calendar app.
- On the left, find the "My calendars" section. You might need to click it to expand it.
- Hover over the calendar you want to share and select Settings and sharing from the pop-up menu.
- Through your Cantilever email address, you'll see the option to make your calendar available for everyone in your organization. Share this calendar with everyone in the organization.
How this setting works:
- People in your organization can find your calendar.
- People outside your organization won't be able to see your calendar.
- If you invite someone outside your organization to a meeting, they can see information about the meeting.
Options:
- See all event details: This should be selected for sharing within Cantilever.
- See only free/busy (hide details): This should be selected for sharing outside of Cantilever (such as if you need to sync this calendar with your personal Google calendar).
For further resources on calendar sharing or editing privacy, refer to Share Your Calendar with Someone in Google Calendar Help.
Viewing Your Fellow Team Members' Calendars
Being able to view the calendars of your fellow team members will inform you of their availability (within reason) and on the best time when to schedule meetings for. To view the calendars of your teammates, enter their name or email into the Add a coworker's calendar box.
Your coworker's calendar will then show up in your Other calendars column. Keep these turned off as general practice to avoid cluttering your own calendar page. You can turn them on when needed to refer to their availability (almost exclusively needed for scheduling meetings).
Dealing with Time Zones
Scheduling Cantilever meetings can be tricky because of the amount of time zones we often have within the company. Take advantage of Google Calendar’s "find times" functionality. This utility is also helpful: