The time it takes to play

An interesting post from Paul Graham talks about the differences between how “managers” and “makers” use time:

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….

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…. 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.

Graham describes the manager’s schedule as “the schedule of command,” and it is interesting to note that this is also the schedule of the traditional school, where time is cut into units: short slices of time for different activities or, as we more commonly say, subjects or classes.

Graham’s point, though, is that such an organization of time doesn’t work well for those engaged in the tasks of creation and innovation, where larger units of protected time are required. So it is no surprise, perhaps, that epistemic games work better when they can be played at the natural rhythm of those who are creative rather than those who are commanded.

One more reason to rethink the structure of schooling in a fundamental way….