I use meeting poll quite a bit. As I send out the poll, it blocks my calendar for the time slots of the poll, so I do not plan anything else for that slot. When all the required folks have submitted their vote, it automatically sends the invite out to the best slot and removes all other blocks on my calendar. I can even setup a poll as a reply to an email thread. Only issue I have had is that, anyone in the CC list are considered as optional and so their vote does not count in setting up the meeting. So, I will have to plan a bit, if the folks in the cc list are important for the meeting. If you have not used Meeting Poll yet, give it a try. I am sure you can do with a bit of automation to help with your busy day and you will like it.
