Maker’s schedule, manager’s schedule
Let me start off by saying that I do not hate meetings for what they are (or at least should be), which is an opportunity to connect with other people (for whatever purpose). The problem with them is just that they tend to not get along very well with being creative (as in creating stuff).
Paul Graham, whom I admire greatly, totally understands what I am talking about:
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. It’s embodied in the traditional appointment book, with each day cut into one hour intervals. 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.
(…)
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.
When you’re operating on the maker’s schedule, meetings are a disaster. A single meeting can blow a whole afternoon, by breaking it into two pieces each too small to do anything hard in.
From Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule.
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