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Makers, Managers and Time Management

This is my belated riff on Paul Graham’s Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule essay. 
Like Paul and most people in startup companies I am both a maker and a manager.  I solicit clients, bring in the work that I do, do the work, bill it, collect it and manage all the administrative details that go with it.  My firm offers plenty of resources as well, but ultimately my best hope of getting paid is to do almost all of these things myself.

I agree with Paul that large uninterrupted blocks of time working *in* the business are ideal. I get great satisfaction from immersing myself in a big project and seeing it to completion.  Early in my career I got to do that almost exclusively- I was a pure maker then.
Nowadays I get to spend those uninterrupted blocks of time about one day in five.  Most of the time I jump around among projects with varying deadlines, meet new clients, work on firm matters, work on Cleantech Open volunteer matters, etc.

Paul split his day into manager time while other people were awake and maker time when he know no one would interrupt him.  I organize things differently.  I start my day with a news feed from various sources, then try to block out a solid chunk of maker time, especially for projects that require long periods of attention.  Frequently I close my email, Twitter client and other distractions during this time so I can focus intently.
Lunch is often manager time- this is valuable meeting time since I generally don’t try to “make” and eat simultaneously.  I then finish the afternoon with another block of maker time, although this one is frequently less intense and I often work through multiple small projects in this time, broken up by phone calls and emails on various things.

I find that I really need that solid block in the morning to get the day moving properly.  On the days when it doesn’t happen I have a lot more trouble getting focused throughout the day.
More good stuff on time management from Carleen Hawn and micro/macro rhythms from Brad Feld.  Good Stuff 

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