Yesterday, a hot take about Calendly began to make the rounds on Twitter. I’ll embed the full tweet below, but the gist of the tweet is this:
The author of this particular tweet feels that when you send someone a Calendly link to book a meeting you’re engaging in a “get in line” move. In other words, you’re saying that everything that’s already on your calendar is more important than the thing they want to talk about and telling them to take a spot in line and wait.
‘Calendly’ Etiquette is The Most Raw / Naked Display of Social Capital Dynamics in Business. pic.twitter.com/GEdYj6J6Rt
— sam lessin (@lessin) January 26, 2022
Wow. I had no idea I was being such an ass when I sent someone my Calendly link.
I thought what I was doing was showing that person every time I am available and asking them to pick the time that’s most convenient for them. I thought I was opening up my calendar and saying “I can make any of these times work, but what time works best for you?” I thought I was trying to be efficient and avoid all the back and forth and wasted time that goes along with trying to book a meeting by randomly suggesting blocks of availability. I guess I was wrong.
Its an interesting perspective but definitely seems a bit heavy handed by Sam. I get where he is coming from but it sounds like sour grapes to me. His solution is that we go back to spending more time finding time to meet. If there is something urgent that needs to replace an existing appointment one can always just reply with that. The twitter comments seem to go with that flow too.
I too get where he’s coming from but the whole thing strikes me as someone’s ego overriding their better judgement. I don’t know the Tweet author and I don’t follow them, so I say that very reservedly – perhaps the author is a humble and introspective person – but the Tweet gives me the impression of someone whose ego drives them to demand a certain level of deference and to bristle when due deference isn’t shown.
Oh wow. This tweet drops the bomb that says exactly what I was trying to say, but in a lot fewer words and in a much more pointed fashion than I’m willing to say it.