It’s a fast-paced world, with so many things competing for our attention and with us struggling to fit so many tasks into 24 hours a day. Whether you’re a manager, a salaried employee, or the owner of your own startup, there are so many meetings to attend, people to meet, and employees and co-workers to manage. Add to that the daily demands of our own personal lives: a doctor’s appointment, shopping, or even a visit to the mechanic for scheduled car maintenance.

Before computer programs and mobile applications became fashionable, people used the traditional calendar to organize these events. Now, we are talking about online calendars, appointment schedulers and mobile apps where one can enter their to-do lists and get regular reminders.

If there’s one thing managers, supervisors, and maybe even the regular employee would appreciate, it’s these scheduling tools they can use to organize tasks or schedule employees. Here are some of the ways you can use these programming tools in your work or business.

Manage your people

If you work as a manager or supervisor, one of your duties is to organize and manage the people under your supervision, including their work hours or shift schedules. A scheduling tool can make staff scheduling easier and more convenient for you. You don’t even need to worry about mixing shifts or assigning more hours than required to a staff. If you work in your company’s human resources department, a scheduling system can also help you track and control employee leave, overtime, and absences.

Plan your events

If you have a business that deals with event planning or services during multiple events, such as a hotel or caterer, a scheduling tool is helpful in scheduling your events and avoiding overlaps. Hotels, for example, use a scheduling tool to organize reservations for their various rooms. A startup offering cars for rent can also use a scheduling tool to make sure their car reservations are in the right order. You can also use these tools to plan which employees will be assigned to these events.

If you’re juggling meetings from left to right, a scheduling tool can help you keep track of who you’re meeting with on a particular day so you don’t double-date.

Automata company services

There was an increase in the number of air travellers, when airlines started offering online booking services. Imagine the ease that automated services like online reservations bring to both your business and your customers. A service such as an airline’s online reservation service uses scheduling software that automatically organizes all the reservation details in the company’s system, allowing for less expensive but more efficient operations.

There are more than a dozen programming tools available online, some paid and some free. Companies and businesses offering programming products and related services have also sprung up. Obviously, there is a growing market as people get involved in more activities and perform various tasks. We’re always looking for ways to make our lives easier, and one (or two) of these programming tools is something we can all use.