Workflows · Guide
Calendar assistants: availability is not a booking
A scheduling workflow needs separate availability, proposal, and confirmed-booking states.
Preserve the meaning of a free slot
An illustrative service coordinator wants AI to schedule client appointments. Google Calendar provides a free/busy query, but that is a source of calendar information, not a business commitment. Travel time, staff qualifications, customer preference, and tentative holds may still matter. List those constraints before the assistant suggests a slot, and identify which system owns each constraint.
Make time explicit
Store the original requested time zone and display the proposed date in the customer’s context. Keep duration and buffer rules outside free-form generation. Around daylight-saving changes, require explicit confirmation of an ambiguous local time. A model should not repair an unclear date by choosing whichever interpretation seems most conversationally likely.
Workflow at a glance
Recheck before committing
A slot can disappear between suggestion and confirmation. Recheck the authoritative calendar before writing the event, then record a stable request identifier and the resulting event identifier. If the write outcome is uncertain, look up the existing event before retrying. Notify the client only after the booking state is confirmed, or clearly say the request is still pending.
Measure failed promises
In a shadow pilot, count conflicting bookings, corrected time zones, and staff intervention time. Include cancelled proposals and unanswered confirmation requests. Good scheduling reduces coordination without creating false certainty. The assistant should suggest and organize; rules and authorized users determine when the organization is committed.
A practical next step
Test a cross-time-zone appointment and a slot taken by a colleague before confirmation. Ask staff to recover without creating duplicate events. Compare the customer-facing message with the actual calendar record. Also submit the same request through two channels; it should be recognized or reviewed as a potential duplicate, not a second commitment.
Sources and further reading
- Freebusy: queryFreebusy: queryGoogle for Developers · Documentation ·
- Generative AI lifecycle — Generative AI LensGenerative AI lifecycle — Generative AI LensAmazon Web Services · Documentation ·
Editorial approach
AI-assisted original writing, checked against linked public sources. Practical recommendations and illustrative scenarios are editorial analysis, not reported client results. Source dates and product details may differ from this collection’s preparation date.