Free template
A 1:1 schedule for your whole team, that survives time zones and time off.
Add the people who report to you, their time zones and how often you meet. You get a fixed slot for each person inside both your working hours, spread across your week, and the dated 1:1s for the next weeks with the ones that hit time off already moved.
Your team
Hours and days are in their own time.
- PrefersWorking hoursto
- PrefersWorking hoursto
- PrefersWorking hoursto
- PrefersWorking hoursto
- PrefersWorking hoursto
Time off
A 1:1 that lands on someone's time off moves to the nearest free slot that week.
Your week
- Mon
- Tue
- Wed
- Thu
- Fri
Everyone's slot
22 1:1s over 6 weeks, 2 moved, 1 skipped
Maya ChenWeekly
Wednesdays, 1:00 pm to 1:30 pm
Jordan EllisWeekly
Mondays, 2:15 pm to 2:45 pm
Monday 1:15 pm in Chicago
Priya RamanEvery 2 weeks
Tuesdays, 9:00 am to 9:30 am
Tuesday 6:30 pm in Bengaluru
Tom BeckerWeekly
Thursdays, 11:00 am to 11:30 am
Thursday 4:00 pm in London
Sam OkaforMonthly
Tuesdays, 2:00 pm to 2:45 pm
Tuesday 11:00 am in San Francisco
Your week, New York time
Striped: kept free of 1:1sDashed: moved this weekCrossed out: skipped
The next 6 weeks
Week of Mon, Oct 19
Jordan Ellis Mon, Oct 19, 2:15 pm
Priya Raman Tue, Oct 20, 9:00 am
Maya Chen Wed, Oct 21, 1:00 pm
Tom Becker Thu, Oct 22, 11:00 am
Week of Mon, Oct 26
Sam Okafor Tue, Oct 27, 2:00 pm
Maya Chen Wed, Oct 28, 1:00 pm
- Moved
Jordan Ellis Wed, Oct 28, 2:15 pm
Moved from Mon, Oct 26, 2:15 pm: Jordan is off.
Tom Becker Thu, Oct 29, 11:00 am
Week of Mon, Nov 2
Jordan Ellis Mon, Nov 2, 2:15 pm
Priya Raman Tue, Nov 3, 9:00 am
- Skipped
Maya Chen Wed, Nov 4, 1:00 pm
Skipped: Maya is off all week.
Tom Becker Thu, Nov 5, 11:00 am
Week of Mon, Nov 9
Jordan Ellis Mon, Nov 9, 2:15 pm
- Moved
Tom Becker Wed, Nov 11, 11:00 am
Moved from Thu, Nov 12, 11:00 am: you're off.
Maya Chen Wed, Nov 11, 1:00 pm
Week of Mon, Nov 16
Jordan Ellis Mon, Nov 16, 2:15 pm
Priya Raman Tue, Nov 17, 9:00 am
Maya Chen Wed, Nov 18, 1:00 pm
Tom Becker Thu, Nov 19, 11:00 am
Week of Mon, Nov 23
Jordan Ellis Mon, Nov 23, 2:15 pm
Sam Okafor Tue, Nov 24, 2:00 pm
Maya Chen Wed, Nov 25, 1:00 pm
Tom Becker Thu, Nov 26, 11:00 am
1:1 schedule
Times are in your time zone (New York) unless a row says otherwise. Starts the week of Mon, Oct 19.
The rhythm
| Person | Cadence | Your time | Their time | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maya Chen | Weekly | Wednesday 1:00 pm | Same | 30 min |
| Jordan Ellis | Weekly | Monday 2:15 pm | Monday 1:15 pm (Chicago) | 30 min |
| Priya Raman | Every 2 weeks | Tuesday 9:00 am | Tuesday 6:30 pm (Bengaluru) | 30 min |
| Tom Becker | Weekly | Thursday 11:00 am | Thursday 4:00 pm (London) | 30 min |
| Sam Okafor | Monthly (every 4 weeks) | Tuesday 2:00 pm | Tuesday 11:00 am (San Francisco) | 45 min |
Ground rules
- Your 1:1 hours: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, at most 2 a day, 15 minutes between them.
- Monday: no 1:1s before noon.
- Friday: no 1:1s.
- If someone is off, the 1:1 moves to the nearest free slot that week. If there is none, it's skipped, not cancelled for good.
- Their 1:1 is their time. Move it if you must, but never drop it without a new time.
Dates
Week of Mon, Oct 19
- Jordan Ellis: Mon, Oct 19, 2:15 pm to 2:45 pm
- Priya Raman: Tue, Oct 20, 9:00 am to 9:30 am
- Maya Chen: Wed, Oct 21, 1:00 pm to 1:30 pm
- Tom Becker: Thu, Oct 22, 11:00 am to 11:30 am
Week of Mon, Oct 26
- Sam Okafor: Tue, Oct 27, 2:00 pm to 2:45 pm
- Maya Chen: Wed, Oct 28, 1:00 pm to 1:30 pm
- Jordan Ellis: Wed, Oct 28, 2:15 pm to 2:45 pm. Moved from Mon, Oct 26, 2:15 pm: Jordan is off.
- Tom Becker: Thu, Oct 29, 11:00 am to 11:30 am
Week of Mon, Nov 2
- Jordan Ellis: Mon, Nov 2, 2:15 pm to 2:45 pm
- Priya Raman: Tue, Nov 3, 9:00 am to 9:30 am
- Maya Chen: Wed, Nov 4, 1:00 pm. Skipped: Maya is off all week.
- Tom Becker: Thu, Nov 5, 11:00 am to 11:30 am
Week of Mon, Nov 9
- Jordan Ellis: Mon, Nov 9, 2:15 pm to 2:45 pm
- Tom Becker: Wed, Nov 11, 11:00 am to 11:30 am. Moved from Thu, Nov 12, 11:00 am: you're off.
- Maya Chen: Wed, Nov 11, 1:00 pm to 1:30 pm
Week of Mon, Nov 16
- Jordan Ellis: Mon, Nov 16, 2:15 pm to 2:45 pm
- Priya Raman: Tue, Nov 17, 9:00 am to 9:30 am
- Maya Chen: Wed, Nov 18, 1:00 pm to 1:30 pm
- Tom Becker: Thu, Nov 19, 11:00 am to 11:30 am
Week of Mon, Nov 23
- Jordan Ellis: Mon, Nov 23, 2:15 pm to 2:45 pm
- Sam Okafor: Tue, Nov 24, 2:00 pm to 2:45 pm
- Maya Chen: Wed, Nov 25, 1:00 pm to 1:30 pm
- Tom Becker: Thu, Nov 26, 11:00 am to 11:30 am
Time off
- Jordan Ellis: Mon, Oct 26 to Tue, Oct 27
- Maya Chen: Mon, Nov 2 to Fri, Nov 6
- You: Thu, Nov 12
Copy pastes as formatted text into Google Docs, Notion or Confluence. Markdown is for GitHub, Jira or Slack.
Why a fixed slot beats “let's find a time this week.”
A 1:1 is the one meeting that belongs to the person who reports to you. When it moves every week, the message is that it's the first thing to go. People stop saving up the hard topics for it, and those topics come out in a Slack thread or an exit interview instead.
A fixed slot fixes that. Same day, same time, every week, so nobody has to ask for it and nobody has to find it. Engineers can plan focus time around it, and you can see at a glance when you last talked to someone. Move it when you must, but move it inside the same week. Never cancel without a new time.
Put the slots where your energy is. Spread them out if you also write code or review designs, so you don't lose a full day to context switching. Batch two on one afternoon if you'd rather protect whole mornings. Keep Monday morning for planning and Friday for wrap-up: that's what the "days to keep free" rows are for.
Weekly, every two weeks, or monthly?
Weekly, 30 min
The default for direct reports. Right for anyone new, anyone on a hard project, and anyone you're helping grow. Short enough to skip the small talk, frequent enough that nothing waits long.
Every 2 weeks, 45 min
For senior engineers who are settled and talk to you often in standups and reviews. Same time per month as weekly, in fewer, deeper conversations. Two biweekly people can share one slot in alternate weeks.
Monthly, 45 min
For skip-levels, dotted-line reports and very large teams. Too rare for a direct report: a month is long enough for a problem to become a resignation.
How many 1:1s a day is too many?
Do the math before you pick a cadence. Every report costs the meeting plus the switch in and out of it.
2.5 h
a week for 5 weekly 1:1s of 30 minutes, before buffers
5 h
a week for 10 weekly 1:1s: the point where biweekly for some starts to make sense
2 to 3
1:1s a day is where most managers draw the line before the last one gets less of them
Set a limit per day and a buffer. Fifteen minutes between two 1:1s gives you time to write down what you promised before the next person starts. Back-to-back 1:1s are how follow-ups get lost. If the template can't fit everyone, it tells you which constraint to loosen.
Scheduling 1:1s across time zones.
Pick a slot in the middle of the hours you share, not at the edge of one person's day. A 5 pm call for a developer in London is a call they take with one eye on the clock. The template enters each person's hours in their own time and only offers slots that sit inside both.
Watch the clock changes. The US and Europe switch to and from summer time on different weekends in March and October, so a slot that fits in September can fall outside someone's day for a week or two. India and most of Asia don't change at all. The dated list checks every week on its own, and moves any 1:1 the clock change pushes out of someone's hours.
If there's no overlap at all, like San Francisco and Bengaluru on a normal day, take turns: one month you take the early call, the next month they take the late one. Don't make the same person pay for the time difference every week.
When someone's away, move the 1:1. Don't drop it.
A 1:1 on a day off is the one that quietly stops happening. Move it to the nearest free slot that week, ideally after they're back. If they're out all week, skip it on purpose and put the next one in before they leave. Press “Show on timeline” above to see your team, their time off and every 1:1 on one board.
- Each person's 1:1 dates on their own row
- Time off on the same rows, yours too
- Spot the weeks with nobody to meet
- Drag a 1:1 to another day
You have the slots. Now make them count.
1:1 questions
Questions for career, feedback, burnout and the weeks there's nothing to talk about.
Read more
1:1 meeting template
A shared agenda doc so both of you add topics before the meeting, not during it.
Read more
Skip-level meetings
The monthly cadence done right: questions and an agenda for meeting your reports' reports.
Read more
Questions
How do you make a one-on-one meeting schedule?
List your reports with their time zone, working hours and how often you meet. Give each one a fixed weekly slot inside both your hours, no more than two or three 1:1s on one day, and a short buffer between them. Then check the next few weeks for time off and move those 1:1s inside the same week. The template above does all of this and gives you an .ics file.
How often should you have 1:1s?
Weekly for 30 minutes is the default for direct reports, and right for anyone new, struggling or growing fast. Every two weeks works for senior people who are settled and talk to you often anyway. Monthly is for skip-levels or very large teams, not for direct reports.
How long should a 1:1 meeting be?
30 minutes weekly is the common choice. Use 45 minutes if you meet every two weeks, so the total time stays about the same. 25 minutes leaves a gap before the next meeting when your calendar is full.
How many 1:1s a day is too many?
Most managers find three a day is the limit before the last one gets less attention than the first. Two a day spread over the week is better if you also write code or run planning. With eight weekly reports, that means 1:1s on four days.
How do you schedule 1:1s across time zones?
Find the hours you both work, and pick a slot in the middle of that overlap, not at the edge of someone's day. Check the slot after the clock changes in March and October, since the US and Europe change on different dates. If there's no overlap at all, alternate who takes the early or late call.
What should you do when a 1:1 falls on someone's time off?
Move it to the nearest free slot that week, ideally after they're back so there's something to talk about. If they're away all week, skip it and say so. Don't let the series quietly drop: put the next one in their calendar before they leave.