Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule

Paul Graham's seminal essay distinguishes between two incompatible scheduling philosophies: the Manager's Schedule (divided into one-hour intervals, enabling easy meeting scheduling and speculative meetings with low opportunity cost) and the Maker's Schedule (requiring large, uninterrupted blocks of time—half-day minimum—crucial for creative and technical work like programming and writing). The key insight is that these schedules fundamentally clash because makers are deeply sensitive to interruptions that fragment their work time, where a single meeting can psychologically derail an entire day's potential productivity by breaking the deep concentration and continuous mental flow required for creative work. Engineering leaders will learn why makers need protection from constant meeting interruptions and how understanding these different work modes helps organizations better support creative professionals.