Modern teams know that data and transparency are a prerequisite for success — and Metabase knows it better than most. Metabase is an easy, open-source way for everyone in your company to ask questions and learn from data. The company has 55 employees spread across four continents. They’re on a mission to make data accessible by breaking down information silos and removing the SQL barrier.
The people at Metabase are experts at making sense of complex data, but when it came to organizing their complex schedules, they turned to Clockwise.
Simplifying collaboration as a distributed, asynchronous team
Rather than spend precious time on manual scheduling, Metabase employees rely on a faster and easier way to stay up-to-date with each other’s availability: Clockwise for Slack. This integration automatically updates your Slack status, enables Do Not Disturb mode, and places status-specific emojis next to your name whenever you’re busy.
Margaret Rimek, Metabase’s Growth Marketing Manager based in Portugal, shared, “Since we’re a globally distributed team, async communication is one of our core pillars. Through the Slack integration, Clockwise makes it really easy to understand whether your teammate is out, before/after working hours, or in a meeting. This really helps to plan communication accordingly.”
Conor Dewey, a Product Manager at Metabase added, “Before using Clockwise, it was difficult for me in the past to achieve that level of empathy for teammates when working remotely. With Clockwise, it’s really nice to be able to see who’s in a meeting vs. who’s doing deep work vs. who’s asleep.”
Prioritizing Focus Time, automatically
Most of us recognize the dramatic impact that Focus Time can have on an organization, but it can be challenging to actually carve out time for deep work. Kyle Doherty from Metabase shared how Clockwise is helping him to do just that: “The big thing Clockwise does for me as a product designer is it helps me see where I'll have large blocks of time to think more deeply. Focus Time is really helpful for that, and it's definitely changed how I plan my week for the better.”
Victoria Spektor, Metabase’s Director of People Operations, also finds Clockwise to be extremely valuable for her time management. “I swear by my calendar, so a calendaring tool is important for my productivity. One of the key things I like about Clockwise is that it auto-schedules Focus Time and dynamically adjusts it as my calendar fills up. I like that I can determine if I want Focus Time to be fully blocked out on my calendar or more flexible.”
"We recommend Clockwise to all new team members to help them manage their time better."
<span class="quote-author-name"> - Victoria Spektor</span>
Building flexible schedules and setting healthy boundaries
Ever skipped a meal because of a chaotic schedule? You’re not alone. “I had a job once where I never had time for lunch because I was booked in meetings throughout the day and meetings were scheduled over lunch pretty consistently,” shared Cynthia Balusek, Metabase’s Vice President of Success Engineering. “After I left that job, I vowed to eat lunch every day, and on most days, eat lunch at a time when people typically ate lunch.”
With Clockwise, Cynthia is able to block off 30-60 minutes everyday between 11am and 2pm. If an ad-hoc meeting comes up, Clockwise might reschedule her lunch but only within the designated window. “It has magic to move it to the most optimal time,” Cynthia shared. “So, everyday I eat lunch!”
It isn’t always possible to plan out every single minute of the day, which is why we believe calendars should be living documents. The only problem is most of us don’t have the time to constantly shuffle and re-shuffle our calendars everytime something new arises. That’s where flexible meetings come in. Cynthia uses Flexible Meetings to find the ideal timing for recurring meetings with the recruiting team and to block off prep time for important meetings.
Metabase employees have also found Clockwise’s personal calendar sync, which complements their asynchronous work style. This feature automatically syncs your personal calendar with your work calendar, so that important events like doctor’s appointments and parent-teacher conferences are automatically blocked off on your work calendar.
“It also has this travel feature, so when I had to pick up my son from school yesterday, all I had to do was set a 15-minute meeting with the pick-up time and location, and Clockwise automatically blocked off travel time before and after the pick-up for me. In conclusion, Clockwise is awesome.”
