Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule

Another brilliant essay by Paul Graham: Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule.

One reason programmers dislike meetings so much is that they're on a different type of schedule from other people. Meetings cost them more.

There are two types of schedule, which I'll call the manager's schedule and the maker's schedule. The manager's schedule is for bosses. You can block off several hours for a single task if you need to, but by default you change what you're doing every hour.

Most powerful people are on the manager's schedule. It's the schedule of command. But there's another way of using time that's common among people who make things, like programmers and writers. They generally prefer to use time in units of half a day at least. You can't write or program well in units of an hour. That's barely enough time to get started.

This was validating to hear!

His solution: office hours at the end of the work day, which I’m going to try.