You can do both. I let people know "ask me before you schedule over a meeting". They'll do it anyway, but this allows me to decline a meeting with an excuse if

You can do both. I let people know "ask me before you schedule over a meeting". They'll do it anyway, but this allows me to decline a meeting with an excuse if I don't need to be there. If it's important: they're not likely to explain their justification for me (in doing so providing me with more context on their problem). If by luck 4/5 days stay unbooked you have 16 focus hours of work. I use 2 hour blocks 5 days a week