End the 30 Minute Meeting or How To Change Default Meeting Length in Outlook
What’s longer than 30 minutes but less than 1 hour? NOTHING, at least according to Outlook’s Calendar.
The work day suffers from bloat, 20 minute meetings turn into 30 minute meetings, 40 minute meetings turn into 1 hour meetings and on and on for a few simple reasons.
- No one has an agenda, so everyone makes rough estimates for how long meetings should take. And no one under estimates of course.
- Parkinson’s Law – Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. Reinterpreted, meetings expand so as to fill the time available from its scheduling.
- The defaults encourage it. Outlook calendar defaults to 30 minutes, which means that unless your meeting is in 30 minute or one hour increments its difficult to setup.
We have a product to tackle the agenda challenge. And the best way to guard against Parkinson’s Law is a good moderator.
The last point is also something we can easily do something about.
How to Change Your Default Meeting Length Settings in Outlook from 30 Minutes to 15 or 10 Minutes
1. Open up your Outlook calendar. If you’re using Outlook 2007 or 2010 your calendar should look something like this.
2. Right click the calendar and go to view settings.
3. Click other settings
4. Change ‘time scale’ to 15 or 10 minutes.
Note: this also changes the Zoom of your calendar, so you’ll end up with a calendar zoomed to 110-120%. You will no longer be able to view your full 8 hour day without scrolling down. I found it worth the tradeoff.
Presto! Going forward your meeting length will now default to shorter length. How about scheduling 50 minute meetings and allow people ten minute to transit from their last meeting?
Spread the wealth. Why not encourage your team to do the same?
And remember to go Allin.
Mikal
Believe in Better Software / Better World?
Partner in our cause: Become a fan on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or join our newsletter and be the first to know of our launch.