Atlassian's Team Anywhere Lab conducted an experiment where employees structured their workdays using timeblocking techniques to focus on top priorities, resulting in significant improvements in goal clarity and progress.
- 67% of individual contributors felt more progress on priorities
- Participants declined 17% more meetings, cutting down meeting hours
- Timeboxing focus and collaboration boosted productivity and clarity
What happened
Atlassian's Team Anywhere Lab conducted a week-long experiment involving 59 employees who were split into two groups. Both groups received guidance on designing their calendars intentionally, but only one group tracked daily progress on their top priorities while applying timeblocking strategies. This approach structured their calendars into distinct blocks for focused work, collaboration, and messaging.
The experiment showed participants reduced meeting time by 1.5 hours weekly and declined more meetings, freeing up blocks of dedicated time. The number of calendar blocks allocated to specific activities nearly doubled, emphasizing time set aside for deep focus and ‘not available’ statuses.
Why it matters
Employees often feel overwhelmed by meetings and constant notifications, making it difficult to advance on high-impact tasks. The study demonstrated that intentional calendar design with timeblocking can help workers make more meaningful progress while improving how they feel about their workload. Over two-thirds of individual contributors and managers reported better progress on priorities.
Improved goal clarity was another key benefit, with 57% of individual contributors and 43% of managers sensing clearer objectives after the timeblocking intervention. This clarity correlates with increased efficiency and better time management, tackling common workplace productivity challenges identified in prior research.
What to watch next
Future research and workplace trials may further explore how flexible calendar redesign strategies affect long-term productivity across diverse teams and roles. Atlassian’s study suggests the benefits extend beyond the experimental period, as participants continued to adopt meeting declines and goal-focused blocks afterward.
Organizations interested in adopting timeblocking methods should consider training and support to help employees categorize work types accurately. Developing tools and frameworks to facilitate this transition could enhance collaborative effectiveness and enable sustainable improvements in knowledge worker productivity.