As a founder, how do you divide up your time weekly?
Peyt Spencer Dewar
8 replies
1. If you’re technical, how much time is spent coding / designing your product?
2. How much time is spent doing non-technical tasks (e.g., talking to users, planning, hiring, etc…)
3. How often do you adjust and based on what criteria?
Replies
Alyne Padilla@alynepadilla
Hey Peyt. Not a technical founder, but thought to chime in with some thoughts on time mgmt. The amount of time spent on certain activities varies with the stage you're in and with the LOE involved with completing or shipping the highest priority for any given period. If a founder is in fundraising mode that's a completely different scenario than early days creation mode. I've used calendar time blocks for years and find it to be pretty insightful on where my time goes especially during the different phases of an initiative I'm working on. I'm pretty strict with updating the blocks too. For example, if I have an hour set for a 1:1 and it goes past by 15 minutes, I update to account for the extra time. Hope that helps.
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@psd Indeed discipline helps and finding what works for you is equally important. I’m not a fan of duplicate tasks yet tried digital to-dos and calendar management without as much success and for longer than necessary as I resisted duplication. Gave in and pen & paper just does the trick for me. Instead of fighting the why internally, I found ways to make it seem less repetitive. I use abbreviation for certain events like LinkedIn AR = LinkedIn audio room, PT = physical therapy. Hope you find a good flow that works for you.
Lyrist
@alynepadilla thnx for responding! I updated my question to include non-tech founders ☺️
Hmmm I’m not strict enough with my time. What calendar apps do you use?
@psd Sure thing! gcal is what I tend to use. Google rolled out a newer feature a few months back that shares how much time you spend on certain task types (calculates off the event type used in calendar). But, I gotta say my favorite calendar management is a paper planner (I know, I know haha). It provides satisfaction throughout the day as I check off the tasks.
Lyrist
@alynepadilla do you copy what’s on the calendar in writing every week?
Seems like the principle to follow regardless of tool is to stay disciplined
Lyrist
@alynepadilla thnx for the tips!
Burnout Bot
As the technical co-founder I tend to do maybe 60% coding and the other 40% split between product vision, team management, fundraising and sales, ops stuff, etc.
Lyrist
@bedford_west against my own will I'm trying to reduce coding to about the same 😅