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ScheduleOnce is a tool to help you set up meeting times in situations where it has been traditionally difficult. Even if everyone in the office is around at the same time, sometimes arranging a time for a meeting can be time consuming. ScheduleOnce attempts to solve not only this problem, but also tackles the much more subtle task of arranging meetings between people from across multiple time zones. I recently had the pleasure of asking Yael Goraly, product manager of ScheduleOnce a few questions about the service and digital entrepreneurship.

How did we come up with the idea for ScheduleOnce?

Let’s say I want to schedule a call with my boss. I’m in London (GMT 0) and he’s in California (GMT -8). So we agree to have our call at 1:00pm (Pacific Time) which is 9:00pm for me, on the 9th of March. Only problem is - daylight saving time starts in the US at 2:00am, and my boss is moving the clock. In the UK daylight saving time only starts on the 30th of March. I’m
going to miss that call. This situation is not at all rare - daylight saving time start “season” in
2008 lasts from the 17th of February until the 30th of April. These are 6 weeks in which the world’s clocks aren’t synched. To make the problem worse, some regions in the US and Canada don’t even use daylight saving time, so they’re not “synched” half the year.

The problem is much more complicated than seems at first glance. In fact, ScheduleOnce’s solution is patent-pending. This solution involves converting a timeframe rather than an individual timeslot - so all meeting attendees can suggest times for the meeting without fearing that their suggestions will fall on time that doesn’t exists for another attendee. Together with an up-to-date database, ScheduleOnce provides absolute accuracy across any combination of time zones and daylight saving changes.

What other benefits does ScheduleOnce have?

Simplicity: This is the most important design principle that has guided us through the definition and development of the system. Creating a new meeting can be done in a manner of seconds.

Bi-directional scheduling engine: The ScheduleOnce scheduling engine allows both the organizer and the invitees to suggest alternative meeting times. This capability allows the organizer to select the most appropriate scheduling method for every situation and reduces the time and the number of iterations that are needed to arrive at a suitable time for the meeting.

User experience: ScheduleOnce is a modern web application that utilizes Ajax and Web 2.0 technologies to provide a superior user experience, at par with the user experience of a desktop application!

System independent: ScheduleOnce is completely web-based and system independent. There is no need to download any software; all you need is a browser. In addition, ScheduleOnce doesn’t require that all meeting attendees use the same calendar tool or that they register.

ScheduleOnce is free: and we promise that it will stay that way!

How does it work?

The best introduction to ScheduleOnce can be found in the quicktour or introduction video we have on the homepage. In brief, it’s a very simple process:

1. The organizer defines the timeframe in which the meeting must place, and can suggest times for the meeting and/or allow the invitees to suggest times.

2. The organizer sends a link for the meeting to the invitees.

3. The invitees reply to the organizer’s suggestions and/or suggest their own times.

4. The organizer views the replies and decides on the optimal meeting time.

5. ScheduleOnce generates the meeting times in all attendee time zones.

What it’s like to be an Entrepreneur in Web 2.0

I find it a very exciting job. You know you have a good idea and you can help people with a real problem they have. Web 2.0 is about helping people communicate better in a very busy world, and that’s a real challenge. On the other hand, because every enterprise is unique, there’s no telling if your idea will succeed or not, you can’t look at some other enterprise and say “well, if they made it, I’m sure I will”.

The competition comes not only from other similar web 2.0, but also from the desktop application everyone knows and got used to, no matter their disadvantages and bugs. That’s why we tried to keep ScheduleOnce as simple as possible, and to givehttp://howtosplitanatom.com/wp-admin/post-new.php
How To Split An Atom › Create New Post — WordPress it the look and feel of a desktop application.

Web 2.0 Roundup

I just wanted to thank Yael again for taking to time to talk to us. If you are an entrepreneur with a story to tell, drop me a line.

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