September 24, 2019

On the difference between a maker’s and a manager’s schedule.

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. Plus you have to remember to go to the meeting. That’s no problem for someone on the manager’s schedule. There’s always something coming on the next hour; the only question is what. But when someone on the maker’s schedule has a meeting, they have to think about it.

This is why I usually recommend having meetings with developers next to the lunch break, shortly after work start or before the end of the work day. YMMV though, as different people prefer different times.