The Maker's Schedule

Came across this article recently – it's been around a while – which does a nice job of capturing the difference between managing time when you're an individual contributor or a manager. For creative folk (and I include my engineering brethren in that category, as programming is just as creative as wire-framing), interruptions just murder "flow". You're deep in a problem, you have a bunch of information in your head or a great idea how to solve that tricky snag and then... there's a meeting.

Personally, I try to group meetings together in my calendar as there's nothing worse than a day with a bunch of meetings with 30 minutes or an hour between each. That day's pretty much a wash. I also like working early mornings, because I can usually get a few hours in before sprint standups and other meetings start.

At Clearspring, we instituted a "quiet day" on Wednesday when we try not to have any meetings at all, so there's an uninterrupted day at least once a week. Another trick it to avoid checking email constantly; tackle it in batches several times a day.

So how do you manage your time to maximize productivity? Check out Paul Graham's original article here: Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule