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Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative

calendso.com

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Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative

#71

Post by nojito »

hartator wrote: post #68

I hate Calendly. I don’t exactly know why. The UI is nice, being able to pick a date is cool, and automated calendar invite does work. There is just something that tickle in the wrong way. Mostly because these don’t get updated seriously, you can’t pick any dates shown as available in reality. It’s also a little passive agressive when finding a date/time that works is really not that hard. It feels like a technologic…

Communication is the toughest problem to solve in human history.

>Suggest two dates/time that works for you well and you think should also work for the other person and it often does!

This assumes that both participants have their calendars under control and in their mind. This is impossible for someone like myself so I heavily lean on my EAs or automated scheduling tools for individuals to schedule time with me.

Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative

#72

Post by edoceo »

okamiueru wrote: post #66
scottfr wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you and others on this thread are being much too harsh on their messaging. Most people who have the need this product is meeting will have already encountered Calendly as it is ubiquitous in the space. It's basically a generic term like "Zoom" at this point. "I'll send you my Calendly link" is something people will understand to mean send you a meeting scheduling link. So "An open source Calendly alternative"…

A strange take to say that was too harsh, when, the whole point was that it could be clearer? That's rather mild and constructive. The counter argument that clear communication isn't all that necessary, because the people looking to receive this knowledge already should know this?

the message is clear, if you're in the target group.

that's good communication.

filters out non-prospects early.

Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative

#73

Post by hartator »

nojito wrote: post #71
hartator wrote: post #68

I hate Calendly. I don’t exactly know why. The UI is nice, being able to pick a date is cool, and automated calendar invite does work. There is just something that tickle in the wrong way. Mostly because these don’t get updated seriously, you can’t pick any dates shown as available in reality. It’s also a little passive agressive when finding a date/time that works is really not that hard. It feels like a technologic…

Communication is the toughest problem to solve in human history. >Suggest two dates/time that works for you well and you think should also work for the other person and it often does! This assumes that both participants have their calendars under control and in their mind. This is impossible for someone like myself so I heavily lean on my EAs or automated scheduling tools for individuals to schedule time with me.

Making the assumption you work in software and not in sales. Do you need that many meetings? It feels if your calendar seems uncontrollable, you probably need to start say no to meetings.

Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative

#74

Post by erezsh »

hartator wrote: post #68

I hate Calendly. I don’t exactly know why. The UI is nice, being able to pick a date is cool, and automated calendar invite does work. There is just something that tickle in the wrong way. Mostly because these don’t get updated seriously, you can’t pick any dates shown as available in reality. It’s also a little passive agressive when finding a date/time that works is really not that hard. It feels like a technologic…

That's a very quick diagnosis, that all their users just have a communication problem.

Calendly can be used to hold office-hours, and to allow users or customers an easy way to get face time with you.

Also, I have a lot of acquaintances that are always busy, and scheduling with them can often take several ping-pong hits. I like the idea of a software taking care that of that hassle for us.

Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative

#75

Post by alanwreath »

leftnode wrote: post #29

Congratulations on launching. My (small) startup is a Calendly user for our sales and support staff. What would cause me to switch from Calendly to your product? I would never want to self host this. We're a small team, and no one technical wants to manage yet another server, nor do we want the responsibility for when something screws up and a salesperson misses a demo or a support staff member isn't reminded about a…

Self Hosting always implies more work, generally its attractive to entities that have data protection requirements. Them offering a hosted alternative is a proven business model (Gitlab for example).

Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative

#76

Post by aidenn0 »

k2xl wrote: post #70

I used to work at Calendly (fantastic company out of atlanta). Around the "rudeness" of back and forth in Calendly. One of the most powerful features we built was the ability to show availability both ways. Meaning if the person who is booking with you has Calendly too, they will be able to see times where both you and them are available - which I think helps with the booking etiquette since Calendly will save time f…

I may be wrong, but I think the overwhelming majority of meetings are sufficiently asymmetrical that one side will not have the need to put their free time in a calendar.

Example: my manager is in meetings most of the day, with the meetings scheduled via outlook invites, so his free time is pretty specified in his work calendar. The majority of his direct reports do not have their free time specified in their work calendars.

I'm fine with him sending calendly links though -- and I get the impression that's the common view on the team. None of us want to be in meetings all day, so having to hunt through his calendar from time to time is far preferred.

Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative

#77

Post by nrmitchi »

benjaminwootton wrote: post #45

Am I the only person who hates receiving calend.ly links? I know it's unreasonble, but I find it somehow rude when someone asks me to go hunting around in their calendar, even though it's more efficient than agreeing on meeting slots. I have even passed on some good opportunities simply because I have an aversion to calend.ly!

I don't particularly mind it, mostly because as you mentioned, it is much easier, as long as the sender is aware that it doesn't always work; a Calendly link isn't the solution to every scheduling situation.

It also has to be sent with some sort of message/introduction, otherwise yes, it does feel like I'm being pushed aside.

Finally, the person sending the Calendly link has to keep their calendar actually up to date. There is nothing worse than setting an appointment through Calendly, and then being told "Oh sorry, I actually have a conflict".

I think the "rudeness" interpretation comes from an interpretation that the person sending it "doesn't care enough", which isn't always true.

Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative

#78

Post by nrmitchi »

I like this, and the fact that it is self-hostable (I have a project that I was considering trying to integrate with Calendly, but this looks like a significantly better option for my use case), but I do have one comment about the pricing: there doesn't seem to be any type of trial/free-tier.

Yes, I could go to the effort of deploying it myself to try it out, but that is still significantly more effort than just signing in and trying it out.

It feels like there is a very large gap between "It's free forever by self hosting" and "12/user/month".

I'm not suggesting that you have to have a free-tier-forever kind of plan, just that the requirement of hosting it yourself just to be able to poke around at it is a pretty high bar (especially if someone had to pay someone else to install/set it up for them).

Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative

#80

Post by claytongulick »

I applaud this project! I think there's a huge appetite for this sort of thing, and I think you're starting off well.

Some feedback: 1) It seems premature to launch without API docs for an API driven product (or, at least, I couldn't find them)

2) The choice of React for UI seems strange since this is intended to be embedded within other apps. Wouldn't Web Components have been a better choice?

3) Not being able to specify timezone in a calendar app is a deal-killer for most, I would think.

4) The installation instructions state that you add your first user manually in the database. This would be fine for pre-alpha software, but seems a bit rough for 1.0 - though I understand that your business model isn't focused on the self-hosted

5) The primary reason I'm interested in the product is because I'm a CTO for healthcare companies. HIPAA compliance is top of my list of priorities. I love that you call it out in your "enterprise" offering, but it would be helpful (to me) to have more details about what the difference in offering is as well as pricing for HIPAA compliance. What are you doing differently for hosting in that case? Is it single-tenant?

Very cool product, I'm looking forward to seeing it evolve!

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