Wow, this article, which my Twitter friend Pierre Omidyar posted about today,* really resonated with me.
It’s called:
and it’s by Paul Graham, and it starts like this:
One reason programmers dislike meetings so much is that they’re on a different type of schedule from other people. Meetings cost them more.
There are two types of schedule, which I’ll call the manager’s schedule and the maker’s schedule. The manager’s schedule is for bosses. It’s embodied in the traditional appointment book, with each day cut into one hour intervals. You can block off several hours for a single task if you need to, but by default you change what you’re doing every hour.
When you use time that way, it’s merely a practical problem to meet with someone. Find an open slot in your schedule, book them, and you’re done.
Most powerful people are on the manager’s schedule. It’s the schedule of command. But there’s another way of using time that’s common among people who make things, like programmers and writers. They generally prefer to use time in units of half a day at least. You can’t write or program well in units of an hour. That’s barely enough time to get started….
[The bold is mine.]
Read the rest here. It’s really a good read.
This article made me sit up straight. It sounded in my head like the loudest tuning fork. I never thought about it these words, but it’s so true. Needing to schedule a meeting can throw off the rest of my work day. It felt comfortable and reassuring to see someone else describe something I’ve often struggled with.
Now: I hesitate to post this because I don’t want you to think for a second that I don’t want to meet with you. If you have a potential writing project and would like to sit and chat about it with me, I would be happy to meet with you. It’s part of the job and I’m happy to do it.
I’m good at making time away from my desk useful — and everybody needs to step away from the desk, out into the world and get things done from time to time.
But I was just so interested in this article and wanted to share it. If you’re a writer or other creative type who needs hours at a time to get anything done, you will understand this!
* Pierre Omidyar is my friend in the same way that anybody can follow Oprah on Twitter.
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theogeo/ / CC BY 2.0
