Appointments - Do you use the correct time and date format?

<introEmbed body={<> Clear, unambiguous dates and times prevent missed meetings, costly travel mistakes, and confusion across countries and time zones. <asideEmbed variant="greybox" body={<> “Catch up moved to 10/05 at 6. See you then” </>} figureEmbed={{ preset: "default", figure: 'XXX', shouldDisplay: false }} /> Think about this, is that 10th of May or 5th of October? Is it 6 AM or 6 PM? </>} />

Dates - kill the ambiguity

People in different regions format the date in different ways:

Software can also misinterpret it. For example, entering 10/05/2025 on an Aussie laptop could be read as October 5th, 2025, if opened on an American system.

This is why you should avoid numeric-only formats... they can cause major confusion. To make it even clearer, include abbreviated weekdays with dates.

❌ Figure: Bad example - Use slashes on their own, it’s ambiguous

✅ Figure: Good example - Use "DD MMM YYYY" and include the abbreviated day of the week

Times - 24-hour or am/pm — both are fine (correctly!)

Use valid formats to avoid confusion - both 24-hour and 12-hour formats are universal when used correctly:

✅ Figure: Good example - Correct formatting for time

❌ Figure: Bad example - Incorrect or ambiguous times

Avoid the 12 PM / 12 PM trap.

• Use "noon" or "midnight" to the end of the time instead of just 12:00. E.g., 12:00 noon.
• For boundaries (e.g., validity periods), avoid 00:00; use 00:01 for start and 23:59 for end (common airline practice) to remove doubt.

Always include a time zone for cross-location events: AEST (UTC+10), AEDT (UTC+11), PT (UTC–8), etc.

Extra tips

• Use leading zeros in 24-hour times: 09:05, not 9:5
• Don’t mix separators: use “:” for time, not “. “or “h.”
• It is recommended to use the ISO standard (YYYY-MM-DD) for your filenames, so they can be sorted in descending or ascending order by time
  • e.g., 2025-08-15-sprint-review-notes.md