Most AI hype falls apart on contact with real office work. A small subset of tools actually pays for itself. AI scheduling assistants are one of them - here are two worth testing before the next quarterly planning session.
Builder.ai's Fall and Why It Matters Here
Let's stay in London's wild job market for a second. A local startup called Builder.ai, which built its business around the idea that anyone could create their own app using AI ("like a LEGO set"), has filed for bankruptcy.
Turns out the company slightly overstated how much "artificial intelligence" was involved. 👉 Instead of AI, it was reportedly a group of real-life Indian engineers doing all the work behind the scenes.
But enough of the negativity!
Yes, AI may sometimes be a little too overhyped. But there are tools that are genuinely helpful.
Lately, I've been testing AI scheduling assistants. They're helping me plan management's calendars on a daily basis, but honestly, anyone in the company could use them, since they're super useful when it comes to planning team meetings.
🔵 These tools use AI to find smart ways to structure your day -- grouping similar tasks together and preserving long blocks of time for deep focus.
🔵 Your time for deep work gets protected, meetings get grouped, and your brain doesn't have to shift between multiple activities (we all know how constant multitasking damages our productivity!).
Here are two tools worth checking out:
🤖 Clockwise (4.7 stars on G2)
🤖 Reclaim.ai (4.8 stars on G2)
What These Tools Actually Do, In Practice
Both Clockwise and Reclaim.ai sit on top of Google Calendar or Microsoft 365 and rearrange your week using a few core rules. They look at every recurring meeting, flag the ones that could move, and shift them into clusters so the remaining hours stay open for deep work. Clockwise is the older of the two (founded 2016, popular with engineering teams at Slack, Asana, and others) and leans into team-wide optimisation - it can shuffle meetings across an entire department to maximise everyone's focus time. Reclaim.ai (founded 2019) leans more personal-productivity: it lets you protect time for specific tasks and habits, and is generally faster to learn solo. Both have free tiers that cover the basics; paid plans run roughly $7-12 per user per month. The honest caveat is that scheduling AI works best when your team commits to it - if half the company uses it and half doesn't, the algorithm runs out of room to optimise.
How to Pilot One in Your Office
Pick one tool. Trying both at once creates confusion. Reclaim.ai is easier to start solo; Clockwise is better if you're rolling out team-wide.
Start with a 4-week pilot in one team. Engineering and product teams usually feel the focus-time benefit first.
Define "deep work blocks" explicitly. The AI is only as good as the rules you give it.
Don't move external meetings. Customer calls and interviews break the model, so exclude them.
Measure before and after. Calendar Insights in Google Workspace or Microsoft Viva Insights both surface focus-time data so you can show the impact.
