Makers thrive on half-day blocks of uninterrupted time; forced manager-style interruptions shred productivity, so leaders must carve dedicated deep-work windows and use office-hours or async communication to protect them.
Makers operate on a schedule that demands half-day or longer stretches of quiet time. John Carmack's shift to an evening-to-dawn work rhythm let him build the Quake engine in deep focus, a pattern Paul Graham later described as the maker schedule versus the manager schedule. The article shows why that rhythm produces breakthroughs that hourly-based manager blocks simply can't match.
Interruptions cost real productivity. Studies cite a 23-minute refocus penalty after a distraction, and a single stand-up can split an afternoon into unusable fragments. Managers' default of hourly meetings and Slack pings collides with makers' need for flow, leading to reduced output, burnout, and missed innovation. The piece quantifies the hidden loss behind "busy" signals.
Practical fixes include establishing maker-only office hours, shifting meetings to defined windows, and moving most communication to thoughtful async writing. Building a self-service knowledge base cuts repetitive questions, while a culture that respects deep work lets technical leaders protect their teams' most valuable resource: uninterrupted focus.
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