3 Buckets of Work Time

Overview
The post explains a personal framework for organizing daily tasks into three distinct buckets. By separating deep, focused work from shallow tasks and administrative duties, the author aims to improve productivity and maintain work-life balance, especially when collaborating with a team across time zones.

Key Takeaways

• Divide your day into three buckets: deep work, shallow work, and admin/meetings.
• Schedule deep work during your peak focus hours and protect it from interruptions.
• Use shallow work time for quick tasks, emails, and coordination.
• Reserve admin and meeting time for necessary coordination, especially with remote teammates.
• Regularly review and adjust the buckets to match evolving team size and responsibilities.

Who Would Benefit

• Engineering managers looking to structure their own and their team's day.
• Technical leaders managing distributed or remote teams.
• Software developers seeking better personal productivity.
• Anyone juggling multiple responsibilities across time zones.

Frameworks and Methodologies

• Deep Work (Cal Newport)
• Time Blocking
• Pomodoro Technique (optional for deep work sessions)