Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule
Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30
CORE DEFINITION
- Manager's schedule: divided by hours, meetings and communication, interruptions are fine. - Maker's schedule: divided by half-days, coding and writing, once interrupted, the recovery cost is extremely high.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Collaboration etiquette: managers should not insert a 15-minute meeting at 2 PM for makers (programmers/designers), as it will ruin their entire afternoon of deep work.
Anchor fast decisions
The cognitive units of the two types of work are different - managers work in hourly units and can switch flexibly between meetings; makers work in half-day units and need large uninterrupted blocks of time, and the 'recovery cost' after interruption is much higher than the duration of the interruption itself.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/4Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- paulgraham.comhttps://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.htmlverified
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