Accommodating preparatory work for electronically scheduled meetings

Method, apparatus, and computer program products for scheduling and tracking preparatory work associated with electronic meeting invitations. When a meeting invitation is received and tentatively accepted, the user is prompted to enter the expected duration of the associated work. A floating block of time is created, subject to the constraint that it must be completed before the meeting convenes. If both the meeting and the floating block can be scheduled without irresolvable conflicts, they are added to the calendar, and a to-do associated with the floating block may be added to the to-do list. When an invitation for a second meeting conflicts with a first floating block associated with a first meeting, the first floating block may be rescheduled, within its completion-time constraint, to accommodate the second meeting.