Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule

Paul Graham’s essay Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule identifies two fundamentally different ways of organizing work time.

Two Distinct Approaches

Manager’s Schedule: Hourly blocks with frequent context-switching. Meetings are the natural unit of time. This is the default schedule of powerful people.

Maker’s Schedule: Extended blocks of time—ideally half-day chunks minimum—for deep work. This is how programmers, writers, and creators work.

The Cost Differential

A meeting doesn’t just consume the scheduled hour for makers; it fragments the remaining day into pieces too small for meaningful progress.

“A single meeting can blow a whole afternoon.” Knowledge of afternoon disruption reduces morning motivation for ambitious projects.

Psychological Impact

The mere anticipation of meetings dampens creative energy. Makers experience corresponding depression when lacking full, uninterrupted workdays—the opposite of the mood boost from complete schedule freedom.

Organizational Misalignment

Since powerful people typically operate on manager schedules, they inadvertently impose their rhythm on others. “Speculative meetings” (casual coffee chats) are essentially free for managers but devastatingly expensive for makers.

Practical Solutions

Y Combinator addressed this by holding office hours clustered at day’s end—never interrupting their maker’s workflow.

My Takeaway

If you’re a maker, protect your schedule ruthlessly. If you manage makers, understand that a “quick meeting” costs them far more than the scheduled time.

How do you protect your maker time? I’d love to hear at persdre@gmail.com.