Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule
by Paul Graham · read the original
There are two ways of using time, and they don't mix. PG explains why a single meeting can wreck a maker's whole day, how to protect deep work with batching, and how founders end up running both schedules at once.
- 1
Two Kinds of Schedule
Managers work in one-hour blocks and switch tasks freely. Makers need half-day blocks because real building barely starts within an hour.
- 2
What a Meeting Actually Costs a Maker
A meeting costs a manager one hour. It costs a maker the half day around it, plus the ambition drained from the hours before it.
- 3
The Ambient Cost of Knowing
An upcoming meeting taxes every hour before it. The interruption starts the moment it lands on the calendar, not when it begins.
- 4
Why Makers Cave Anyway
Makers accept ruinous meetings because the people booking them don't know the maker's schedule exists. Naming the two schedules is half the fix.
- 5
Office Hours: Batching as a Defense
Batch meetings into fixed windows at the edges of the day. Interruptions herded into one pen can't fragment your deep work blocks.
- 6
The Trap of Speculative Meetings
Casual 'grab coffee' meetings are near-free for managers and cost makers half a day. Know which currency you're paying in before you say yes.
- 7
Founders Run Both Schedules
Founders can't escape either schedule, so partition them. Give building and managing separate territory instead of letting meetings interleave with work.