TeleconferenceTiddlywinks

it goes like this:

 - whoever wants the meeting to happen owes one (or 2 or 3) specific proposals for when to meet, down to the minute *1, including duration

 - critical resources owe either "yes i can do that time" or "here's my counterproposal"

 - non-critical resources have 2 more choices: regrets, and not responding

 - if there's only one proposal outstanding, and all the critical resources are available, the proposer may declare that the meeting time, and should do so, if there's support from lots.

hmm... let's say each proposer must order their proposals; they can declare a lesser proposal to be the meeting time only if they justify why their greater proposals wouldn't work.

1 This protocol is for meetings of 30 to 120 minutes, where being one second late is not cause for apology.

Scheduling meetings like this is easier when there's a recognized chair, who plays the role of proposer, but this protocol works before all parties agree who's organizing the meeting.

whether somebody's a critical resource or not is not formalized

genesis: discussion in #swig Jan 2005