Paul Graham Explains Why Meetings Thwart the Flow of Creativity
Image source: Scut Farkus
On every workday morning for as long as I can remember, I’ve started the day by mentally running through my calendar to determine how many meetings are scheduled. On the days with no meetings, I breathe a huge, exultant sigh of relief. Because I know I can actually get something DONE! I can get into flow without worrying that I have to stop at 10:45 am and then again at 12:30. Meetings thwart creativity because they break up the day into small, unmanageable chunks.
Managers, take note! But don’t take my word for it. Here is Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, who explains this phenomenon in his typically compelling way.
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’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.
Read the rest @ PaulGraham.com…
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Article shared with me by: Pamela Slim
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