Finding Time

"What times work for you?" is the most expensive sentence in email. It starts a thread that runs three, four, five messages. Somebody pastes a list of slots, somebody else's calendar moves, and by the time you agree, the slot is gone. Sometimes the problem is so complex you need to hire someone to just do this! It's too much.

Solving scheduling is the part of Pepper I like most. This post shows how it works, starting from one person, then a few, then many. The nicest thing in the world is the freedom of cc'ing Pepper on an email and trusting it will manage for everyone. Nobody needs an account and nobody has to track free slots.

Finding Time with One Person

Someone emails asking to meet. You hit reply, CC Pepper, and write "I'd love to chat! Adding in Pepper to help us find a time." Pepper answers on the thread with one line and a link.

If your friend isn't a Pepper user that's fine! They get a link and they can add the time they want. Easy.

This link makes scheduling easy:

• Only times you are actually free, across every calendar you connected - regardless if you have a date night block or an important meeting, every part of your schedule will be accounted for.
• They never see your busy blocks, your event titles or your rules.
• Times are shown in their own timezone - no more "wait this is Eastern time!" last minute scrambles.
• No sign-up. They tap a time and they're done.

When they pick, the invite comes from you, through Google, not from a bot address. Pepper posts a short note back on the thread: who's booked, when, who's invited, and the join link. You also see it in your morning briefing.

Did someone SMS instead of email? Ask Pepper for a link in your chat and text it, or drop it in WhatsApp. It's the same page.

Plans change. If they need to move it, they open the same link and pick a new time. Pepper moves the existing event, so the video link and the RSVPs stay put.

Even better, if they have a Pepper account, Pepper only offers times that work for both of you, and one tap books it. It's glorious.

Finding Time with 2+ People

This is where scheduling really falls apart. Five busy parents, one book club, and a reply-all thread nobody can follow.

But again, you can just CC Pepper and write "Hey, adding Pepper to help us find a time!" With more than one other person on the thread, the link becomes a shared page. Everyone marks the times they can make. Anyone else on the thread who uses Pepper has their calendar checked automatically, so they don't have to mark anything.

When the last person marks, Pepper books the earliest time that works for everyone and replies on the thread. Nobody has to manage a thing.

Maybe you've got one person in your group who doesn't answer. Pepper will send them one nudge (without nagging! never nagging). You can see who you're still waiting on, and if you're done waiting, tap "Don't wait" and book with whoever has answered.

Finding Time and Time Again

Sometimes you're not meeting a person once, you're setting up a system: office hours, parent-teacher slots, or coffee chats for anyone who asks.

By default a link closes after one booking. Ask Pepper to keep it open and it becomes a standing link. You can cap how many people book, set how far ahead people can book, open it on a later date, and pause it when you need a quiet week. Post it once, put it in your email signature, and the same rules keep protecting your time.

You can set rules in your own words: no calls on Fridays, never more than two a day, or time set aside before and after to prepare and debrief. Pepper is the perfect scheduler.

What Makes Pepper Different

Whether you're booking one person or many, Pepper is better than other scheduling systems you use today:

• Frictionless when you need it: Just CC Pepper on the email. It'll handle it.
• Every calendar counts. Work, personal and the family calendar all block time. You choose which calendar new meetings go into.
• Both sides' calendars. If the person booking also uses Pepper, they only see times that work for both of you.
• Rules in your own words. "Weekday mornings, no more than two a day, 15 minutes either side." Pepper turns that into fixed rules when you save and shows you anything it couldn't enforce. If it can't make sense of a rule, the page offers no times instead of wrong ones.

Try It Today

Next time someone asks "what works for you?", CC [email protected] and write "find a time." Pepper is free on the web and the App Store. Sign in, connect a calendar, and send your first link. Tell me or Allen how it's working for you!