Protecting Your Schedule
Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Reclaiming time for focused work
Course outcomes
- Learn when meetings are really needed
- Explore how you and your team can manage schedules more effectively
Course description
Join expert John Hartley to gain strategies for overcoming the single greatest impediment to focused, meaningful work: meetings. You’ll learn how to evaluate when meetings are necessary, how to protect your schedule, and how to promote proper meeting etiquette within your organization. Come ready to examine your past week of meetings and consider a few different factors to regain control. You’ll discover concrete tips and time-saving ideas that you can share with your teams, groups, and organizations so you can devote more time to critical tasks.
What you’ll learn and how you can apply it
- Develop effective time management decision-making
- Establish methods to manage your schedule
This live event is for you because...
- You’re an individual contributor looking to regain control of your schedule.
- You’re a manager who’s trying to get time back for your direct reports.
- You’re a leader whose company meeting culture is unscalable.
- You want to become a more effective leader.
Prerequisites
- Experience with meetings in the workplace
Recommended follow-up:
- Watch 7 Steps to More Productive Meetings (on-demand course)
- Watch Mastering Meetings and Workshops with the Whiteboard (on-demand course)
Schedule
The time frames are only estimates and may vary according to how the class is progressing.
Getting back to work (60 minutes)
- Group discussion: Current feeling on meetings
- Hands-on exercise and discussion: Calendar audit; audit results
- Presentation: Common meeting gripes and grudges; types of meetings; when to meet, email, or call; getting defensive about your meetings; normalizing information consumption
- Q&A
Your Instructor
John Hartley
John Hartley is the head of engineering for conversational AI at Trellis, focusing on omnichannel AI interactions and customer engagement. He leads high-growth, regulated engineering organizations at the intersection of AI, telehealth, and ecommerce. Across his career, John has scaled technical teams, modernized legacy platforms, and built data-driven systems that balance innovation with compliance. His work focuses on operational efficiency, applied AI, and organizational design to help teams move faster without losing clarity. John also authors Hartley’s Handbook, where he shares practical insights on engineering leadership, communication, and the future of work.