the founders of the innovative venture capital firm Y Combinator,
argues that normal business culture gets in the way of the very
productivity it seeks because of the way people traditionally schedule
their time (or are allowed to).
Graham divides all work into two buckets: maker (do or create)
and manager (oversee or direct). “Maker” time requires large blocks
of the clock to write code, develop ideas, generate leads, recruit
people, produce products, or execute on projects and plans. This time
tends to be viewed in half-day increments. “Manager time,” on the
other hand, gets divided into hours. This time typically has one
moving from meeting to meeting, and because those who oversee or
direct tend to have power and authority, “they are in a position to
make everyone resonate at their frequency.” This can create a huge
conflict if those needing maker time are pulled into meetings at odd
hours, destroying the very time blocks they need to move themselves
and the company forward. Graham embraced this insight and created
a company culture at Y Combinator that now runs completely on a
maker’s schedule. All meetings get clustered at the end of the day.
To experience extraordinary results, be a maker in the morning
and a manager in the afternoon. Your goal is “ONE and done.” But if
you don’t time block each day to do your ONE Thing, your ONE
Thing won’t become a done thing.
3. TIME BLOCK YOUR PLANNING TIME
The last priority you time block is planning time. This is when you
reflect on where you are and where you want to go. For annual
planning, schedule this time late enough in the year that you have a
sense of your trajectory, but not so late that you lose your running
start for the next. Take a look at your someday and five-year goals
and assess the progress you must make in the next year to be on track.
You may even add new goals, re-envision old ones, or eliminate any
that no longer reflect your purpose or priorities.