Are you struggling to balance maker and manager time? 🤔

Paul Graham's famous essay on Maker's vs Manager's schedules is a classic, but it might be too simplistic for modern tech leadership.

Let's break it down:

1️⃣ 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗬𝗧𝗛 𝗢𝗙 𝗣𝗨𝗥𝗘 𝗦𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗗𝗨𝗟𝗘𝗦

Graham suggests two distinct types of schedules, but reality is more nuanced:

• 🔨 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 — need long, uninterrupted focus time

• 🎽 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 — run on meeting-driven schedules

2️⃣ 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗩𝗦 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗦

In my experience, there is a better way to frame this divide:

• 🟢 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 — scheduled, planned activities like hiring, 1:1s, and planning

• 🔴 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 — unexpected, needs-based tasks such as clarifying specs or solving conflicts

3️⃣ 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗔𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗦

So, because of the nature of their work, managers face far more reactive work than engineers, disrupting their schedules.

You block 2 hours for coding on Wednesday. Suddenly, 3 team members are stuck and need you. There goes your maker time!

4️⃣ 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗦𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗢 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘

To me, the key to improving your schedules is to turn reactive tasks into proactive ones.

In fact, improving management’s health can often be framed as some version of turning reactive work into proactive:

• 🪜 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 → make career conversations more predictable

• ✏️ 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 → reduce reactive changes to specs

• 🤝 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 → make resource allocation more proactive

Does this make sense? What strategies have worked for you to minimize reactive tasks? Let's learn from each other 👇

♻️ p.s. if you found this useful, please repost it to your friends!