Eight 1-Hour Naps ≠ Good Sleep

Or: Manager Time vs. Maker Time

You wouldn’t tell someone they got a full night’s rest by taking eight one-hour naps at random times throughout the day.

So why do we do something similar to our developers?

This post isn’t about time management. It’s about context switching and why the difference between Manager Time and Maker Time is still at the root of so many tech org dysfunctions.

Manager Time vs. Maker Time

Managers basically live in meetings. They use them to:

• Align stakeholders

• Unblock decisions

• Review status

• Make resource calls

They live their lives in 30- to 60-minute chunks.

But makers (developers, designers, architects, analysts) do deep work. They need long, uninterrupted stretches to build, solve, think, and create.

What Happens in a 1-Hour Block?

When a developer gets an hour between meetings, they don’t get an hour of work. They get:

• 15 min of remembering what they were working on

• 20 min of work

• 10 min of realizing they don't have time to dive too deep before their next meeting

• 15 min of pre-meeting dread

That’s not deep work. That’s mental whiplash.

When You Fragment Deep Work

At best:

• Developers slow down

• Tech debt piles up

• Estimates slip

At worst:

• Quality drops

• Engineers disengage

• Retention tanks

The most frustrating part? The teams aren’t bad. They’re just set up to fail by well-meaning management structures that confuse busyness with value.

What Good Looks Like

If you want better delivery, protect your makers’ time.

• Block 3–4 hour windows for uninterrupted work

• Cluster dev meetings into a single part of the day (ideally afternoons)

• Set clear async norms

• Coach managers to protect (not consume) engineering capacity

• Ruthlessly nuke unnecessary meetings

"Scrumming" Your Way Out of a Broken Calendar

Most teams try to optimize standups, planning, or retros.

But if your devs’ calendars are nightmares, no Agile ceremony is going to help.

This isn’t a framework issue. It’s a people problem. A misalignment of mental models.

Until leadership understands how maker time actually works, your Agile transformation is just a more organized to-do list.

Real Agility = Focus

Agility means reducing friction, not adding more process. Respect that deep work is fragile and doesn’t survive in 30-minute chunks.

So before you throw another meeting on the calendar, ask yourself:

Are you giving your team 8 hours of sleep?Or just eight 1-hour naps?

Want help protecting your team’s time?

At Mountain State Agility, we help tech teams untangle the mess between people, process, and productivity, without overloading them with frameworks or fluff.

If you’re serious about improving flow, quality, and delivery speed, let’s chat. Sometimes a 2-hour consultation is all it takes to see the blockers you can’t.