At this time of year, juggling social drinks, work parties and pre-Christmas deadlines, while also scheduling when to pick up the turkey and host relatives, the electronic calendar can feel tyrannical rather than helpful.

I hate mine so much, I am considering returning to a paper diary next year. This is not a humble brag about being busy, but a whinge about overcomplicated scheduling. Most of us recognise the email back-and-forth, flipping between apps to hold multiple times in diaries, or discovering a meeting convener in a different timezone has reserved 30 minutes to chat when you should be tucked up in bed. One San Francisco-based executive I know repeatedly sent me a bunch of dates via Calendly, all for 10pm. I blocked him. At least I have not fallen victim (yet) to scammers adding phishing links to my diary.

The digital calendar has become a staple of office life, with companies such as Google as well as newer, smaller tools like Motion and Reclaim offering to streamline and optimise scheduling. These ubiquitous shared calendars have brought some interesting dynamics to the surface.