Friday was apparently national doodle day, but another Doodle has come to mind to me today: the online scheduling tool. It’s apparently being used by one in every ten people in its native Switzerland – that’s everyone, not just the online population – and it’s just starting to build up a following in the UK.
Scheduling meetings or social events can be a pain in the backside getting everyone to agree on a date and time and, when it comes to time-keeping, the Swiss are a pretty good example to follow.
Doodle is a free web service which allows users to establish a “poll” – a tabular display of possible available time slots – invite participants and see clearly in a table which options best suit everyone.
Doodle’s announced a string of new features today and the system also syncs up with all major calendar systems (including Microsoft Outlook), meaning users should be able to get hold of most people to arrange a hook-up. Firms can also brand their scheduling system to suit their company look and feel.
To whet the appetite of developers, the company has opened up an API and is also running a competition to see who can come up with the best applications using the scheduling tool. Prizes include a week’s break in Doodle’s home town of Zurich, passes to the 2009 JavaOne Conference and a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic device. Interested developers can enter here:http://www.doodle.com/about/apicontest/APIContest.html
I’ve used Doodle within a work environment, but it functions equally well in a personal, social setting. Try it out at www.doodle.com and update us with your thoughts.
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