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When is Good Finds the Best Time for Everyone
Posted by Gina Trapani at 5:00 AM on April 8, 2008
Group scheduling web application When Is Good makes picking the best time for everyone easy as pie. Similar to previously posted Doodle, no registration is required at When Is Good: simply fill in the calendar with your proposed times for a conference call, meeting, or family reunion. Then enter your email to get an invitation message with a unique URL to your event. Send that sucker out to your invitees, who choose which times work for them. When Is Good is smart about time zones, too—your cross-country invitees will see the available times in their local time zones. Much better solution for figuring out what time works for everyone than that endless email thread.
Tags: calendar | calendars | collaboration | collaboration tools | scheduling
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
Tony Austin
Posted April 8, 2008 10:40 AM
Rather cute, but will be a little too simplistic for many people (e.g., only offers hourly divisions, as already commented on). The "bare bones" minimalist approach might be daunting/puzzling for some users. Also, it needs Java to be installed (runs setup.jsp) which might not be the case for some users.
letoofdune
Posted 4:38 AM 8/4/08
Good utility, but I can imagine it'll get better if they add 30 or 15 minute divisions within the hour. Right now, it's a little too simplistic.
letoofdune
AskTheAdmin
Posted 6:06 AM 8/4/08
I love that you don't have to register - but I was disappointed by its over-simplicity :(
Warm Geeky Regards,
KLG
AskTheAdmin
Kafka
Posted 7:45 AM 8/4/08
This doesn't seem to be a new capability; Outlook has had this for years, along with schedule integration, and you can accomplish the same thing by sharing Google Calendars. I'm sure there are other applications out there. For a single-purpose application, I suppose it's good, and the interface seems nice, but rather than having to input the times I'm occupied, I'd rather go from the schedule I keep anyway. Personal preference.
Kafka
Gina Trapani
Posted 9:55 AM 8/4/08
@Kafka: Yeah, but not all the people you're inviting use Outlook or GCal. This is platform-inspecific, which is the beauty of it. Plus it's more of a polling app than a calendar.
Gina Trapani
jeredb
Posted 6:24 AM 8/4/08
The problem with this and most calendaring software is that the default time segment is an hour. I can barely stand to see an email for an hour long meeting when I clearly know that the content (minus agenda) will not take that amount of time.
While I do applaud the effort to reduce the amount of back-and-forth email, this simply doesn't go far enough.
jeredb
Keith Harris
Posted 5:49 AM 8/4/08
WhenIsGood developer here.
The 30 or 15 minute versions are definitely options (as are full days and morning/afternoon/evening slots) - we're currently looking for feedback about what people want.
There's quite a lot of other things we could add (e.g. the ability to specify 'perfect for me' and 'possible, but not ideal' slots). Again, we're keen to hear from users before we cram the thing with functionality ... its the standard battle between 'adding features' and 'keeping it simple'.
Keith Harris
jwlowery
Posted 11:49 AM 8/4/08
I have recently been using TimeBridge for this purpose and have been very pleased with the results.
jwlowery
moe52
Posted 1:22 PM 8/4/08
@Keith Harris: I would want settable increments. I'd use 1-hour most of the time. Could be a selector at the top to choose :00 :15 :30.
Ability to paint green (preferred) or yellow (OK for me) would be nice.
moe52
letoofdune
Posted 12:33 AM 9/4/08
I'd sent a message off to the creator, and he mentioned that many people have suggested 15 minute increments, so he's probably going to put it in.
Thanks a ton for this link, Gina. As always, it's the simplist hacks that make life just a little asier.
letoofdune
abhowell
Posted 2:33 AM 9/4/08
I just tried it out to schedule a meeting of a volunteer group I work with and I'm impressed! This particular group is relatively technology-shy, so the simplicity of the solution is a real plus. I've already received the first response, and I'm happy with the way the "results" are displayed. It'll be interesting how easily viewed the rest of the results will be, once there are 3 or 4 calendars to look at.
abhowell
baldzenman
Posted 3:14 AM 9/4/08
As a longtime Google Calendar and Outlook user, I love the platform inspecificity of this. While it may be worth it for me to walk clients and colleagues through enrolling in Google and gmail in order to collaborate on Google docs, it simply isn't worth it to schedule a meeting or two.
Of course, the 15- and 30-minute increment thing would be good, but this is a heck of a start.
baldzenman
mroumen
Posted 8:34 PM 8/4/08
Great tool! I miss the ability to see when possible moments overlap. Now I still have to search for the timing that fits the several attendees.
mroumen
cLin
Posted 10:47 AM 9/4/08
I am waiting for the day someone creates something like this for SMS. User goes to site, types in question + timeslots, enters in numbers or friends with numbers attached and it'll SMS everyone with the question. they all vote, then the results are returned to everyone.
Will sure make it easier to figure out what time to meet or where to eat :)
cLin
TheNetEffect
Posted 9:55 PM 10/4/08
BTW - in reference to my previous comment you can find the SMEScheduler app at www.thesmespace.com/SMEScheduler. If you visit the same url from the Iphone you get the IPhone version rather than the desktop version
TheNetEffect
TheNetEffect
Posted 9:54 PM 10/4/08
Good app but not as good as SMEScheduler which I've been using on the Iphone. I can schedule group schedules in a jiffy - everyone can vote on the best time and the outbound emails with calendar attachments are all automated - best of all I'm told by TheSMESpace guys that SMS will be added as a feature soon !
TheNetEffect