Google Calendar · Product sense · Entry · 45 to 60 minutes

How should Calendar reduce meeting overload?

Google Calendar is a digital calendar app people use to schedule, share, and join events and meetings. Answer this product management case and get it graded line by line against a weighted rubric.

Problem framing
User empathy
Product sense
Prioritization
Metrics

The situation

In mid 2020, Google Calendar's workplace team is reviewing how the shift to remote work is changing scheduling behavior. Internal signals show more back to back meetings on work calendars, and user research suggests many people feel drained and rushed during the day, but they do not clearly ask for a calendar feature to fix it. A director asks you, a new PM on Calendar, for a recommendation on whether Calendar should intervene in this problem and how. The hard part is that Calendar is a basic utility used by millions of people across work and personal contexts, so even small changes to meeting creation can confuse users or create trust issues. Assume your target is meetings created for work during dense weekdays. You need to propose a product direction that addresses the fatigue behind packed schedules, fits naturally into the existing scheduling flow, and has a realistic path to adoption without depending on users to build new habits.

What to produce

Write a 1 to 2 page product recommendation memo.

Your answer must

Name the primary user segment and the specific problem you would solve first.
Explain the likely root cause of the pain, and show why it is not enough to describe the issue as generic burnout or simply long meetings.
Recommend one product change in Google Calendar, and explain why it fits current scheduling habits.
Compare your recommendation with at least one plausible alternative, and explain why you would not lead with that alternative now.
Define 2 success metrics, 1 guardrail metric, and a simple rollout plan.

Constraints

Keep the solution inside Google Calendar's existing event scheduling experience.
Do not rely on a large education campaign, manager mandate, or separate wellness product as the primary solution.
Minimize extra work for users after initial adoption.
Avoid forcing users to relearn common meeting scheduling patterns unless you have a very strong reason.

Format

Use short sections titled user and problem, recommendation, alternatives, metrics, risks, and rollout.

How Google Calendar actually played it

Covers Speedy Meetings, a small Calendar setting that shortens meetings so people get breaks. Explains why it worked: it solved a real unspoken problem, fit existing habits and needed no effort.

Small defaults can solve large unspoken problems
Features that need no extra effort get adopted
Do not disrupt existing habits unless needed

Built from Google Calendar Is Stealing 5 Minutes From Every Meeting by Sid Arora (JAPM).