makers schedule

1 collaborator

WHAT IS IT?

This model demonstrates Paul Graham’s concept of “Maker’s Schedule vs. Manager’s Schedule”: - Makers (e.g., developers) need long, uninterrupted time blocks (deep work). - Managers work in smaller, more fragmented time slices (frequent meetings are less of a disruption to them).

The model shows how regular meetings affect productivity, especially for Makers who lose an entire focus block if interrupted. Key features:

An optional “Meeting-Free Wednesday” (toggle switch).
A “Meeting Zone” (visual area) where participants teleport during a meeting.
Daily output (for both Makers and Managers) plus average daily output over all days so far.

HOW IT WORKS

Time Structure
- Each tick represents 1 hour of work.
- One day has 8 ticks (2 blocks of 4 hours each: a morning block and an afternoon block).
- Makers earn productivity block by block:
  - If they are not interrupted by a meeting during a 4-hour block, they receive maker-block-value points at the end of that block.
  - One single meeting is enough to “ruin” that entire block for them (they gain 0 points for that block).
- Managers earn productivity every hour (e.g., manager-tick-value points per tick). If they attend a meeting in that tick, they lose manager-meeting-cost points in that hour.
Meetings
- Each tick, there is a meeting-frequency chance a meeting will be triggered.
- All Managers attend, while a random subset of Makers (controlled by maker-meeting-prob) join.
- Participants are teleported to the Meeting Zone (the right half of the world) so that you can visually see who is in a meeting.
Meeting-Free Wednesday (Switch)
- When the switch meeting-free-wednesday? is ON, no meetings will occur on days where (day mod 7) = 2 (i.e., every Wednesday). Makers then benefit from two uninterrupted 4-hour blocks on that day.
End of Day
- After 8 ticks, the day ends:
  - We calculate the daily outputs for Makers (daily-maker-output) and Managers (daily-manager-output), plus total-productivity.
  - These daily totals go into cumulative variables to compute an average daily output (average-maker-output, average-manager-output).
- A new day begins (day + 1), and the cycle repeats.

HOW TO USE IT

Sliders (Example Values)
- number-of-makers: e.g. 10
- number-of-managers: e.g. 2
- meeting-frequency: probability of a meeting each hour, e.g. 0.2 (20%)
- maker-meeting-prob: fraction of Makers who join a triggered meeting, e.g. 0.5 (50%)
- maker-block-value: points awarded to a Maker if a 4-hour block is uninterrupted, e.g. 5
- manager-tick-value: productivity gained by a Manager each hour, e.g. 1
- manager-meeting-cost: how many points a Manager loses in a meeting hour, e.g. 1
Switch
- meeting-free-wednesday?: if ON, no meetings on any day that (day mod 7) = 2 (every Wednesday).
Buttons
- setup: Initializes the world, places Makers and Managers in the “work” area, and sets all counters to 0.
- go: Runs the simulation (each tick is 1 hour).
Monitors (Recommended)
- day: current day index
- daily-maker-output, daily-manager-output: daily production of Makers/Managers so far
- average-maker-output, average-manager-output: average daily outputs across all days completed
- meeting-count: how many meetings have occurred
Plots
- A “Maker vs. Manager Daily Output” plot (x-axis: day, y-axis: productivity), with two pens.

THINGS TO NOTICE

Maker Blocks: A single meeting in a block ruins it for Makers, who then earn 0 points for that 4-hour period. Notice how quickly their productivity can drop if meetings are frequent.
Manager Work Style: Managers accumulate productivity each hour and only lose points in the meeting hour. Overall, they’re less disrupted by meetings.
Meeting-Free Wednesday: Compare runs with the switch ON vs. OFF. Notice if Makers gain a productivity boost from their unbroken Wednesday blocks.

THINGS TO TRY

Increase Meeting Frequency: Set meeting-frequency to 0.5 (50%). Do Makers’ daily outputs plummet?
Change Team Ratio: E.g., 10 Managers and 5 Makers vs. 5 Managers and 10 Makers.
Alter Maker Block Value: If maker-block-value is significantly higher (e.g., 10), each uninterrupted block is more rewarding, but any interruption is more painful.
Activate/Deactivate Meeting-Free Wednesday:
- OFF: Meetings happen every day.
- ON: See if Makers’ average output improves significantly after many days.

EXTENDING THE MODEL

Fixed Meeting Times: Instead of random triggers, schedule daily stand-ups (e.g. 9:00) or retros (Friday).
Follow-Up Meetings: Let each meeting trigger additional follow-up sessions.
Multiple Maker Roles: Some might need even longer blocks (6 hours), etc.
Meeting Overlaps: Possibly create multiple overlapping meetings and see if that overloads Managers or further harms Makers.

NETLOGO FEATURES

Patch Zones: We use patches-own [ zone ] to distinguish the “work” area vs. the “meeting” area.
Teleportation: move-to teleports participants instantly to the meeting zone, providing a quick visual of who is meeting.
Conditional Code: We skip meeting triggers on days (day mod 7) = 2 if the meeting-free-wednesday? switch is enabled.
Block-Based Productivity: Makers only finalize points at the end of each 4-hour block (tick-in-block = 4), whereas Managers earn points hour by hour.

RELATED MODELS

Time Framework Models (in NetLogo community) – illustrate time-based processes (hours, days).
N-Person Meeting simulations – show how multiple participants’ availability or scheduling can affect overall efficiency.

CREDITS AND REFERENCES

Paul Graham – “Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule”.
NetLogo: https://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/
“No Meeting Days” – real-life organizational approaches (e.g., “Meeting-Free Wednesday”).

(Adapted by mabasoft with ChatGPT assistance. Feel free to modify as needed.)

Comments and Questions

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;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
; NetLogo Model: Maker’s vs. Manager’s Schedule (Block Logic)
; Features:
; 1) "Meeting-free Wednesday" -> optional skip meetings on day mod 7 = 2
; 2) Teleport to MeetingZone for participants
; 3) Daily and average daily outputs for Maker & Manager
;
; Author: mabasoft, Martin Bartsch with support from ChatGPT
; date 2025_01_22
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

globals [
  tick-in-block              ; hour within the 4-hour block (0..3)
  block-index                ; which block of the day (0=morning,1=afternoon)
  day                        ; day counter (increments after every 8 ticks)
  total-productivity         ; daily total (Maker+Manager)
  daily-maker-output         ; daily sum of all makers
  daily-manager-output       ; daily sum of all managers

  cumulative-maker-output    ; sum of all maker outputs over entire sim
  cumulative-manager-output  ; sum of all manager outputs over entire sim

  average-maker-output       ; cumulative-maker-output / number-of-days
  average-manager-output     ; cumulative-manager-output / number-of-days

  meeting-count              ; total meetings so far
]

patches-own [
  zone  ; "work" or "meeting"
]

turtles-own [
  is-manager?
  has-lost-block?     ; true if the maker was interrupted in current block
  my-daily-output
]

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
; INTERFACE SWITCH/SLIDERS (example)
;
; Sliders:
;  - number-of-makers
;  - number-of-managers
;  - meeting-frequency
;  - maker-meeting-prob
;  - maker-block-value
;  - manager-tick-value
;  - manager-meeting-cost
; Switch:
;  - meeting-free-wednesday?
;
; Additional monitors/plots for daily/average outputs
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

to setup
  clear-all
  set day 0
  set tick-in-block 0
  set block-index 0
  set meeting-count 0

  set daily-maker-output 0
  set daily-manager-output 0
  set total-productivity 0

  set cumulative-maker-output 0
  set cumulative-manager-output 0
  set average-maker-output 0
  set average-manager-output 0

  ; Setup patch zones: left half = "work", right half = "meeting"
  ask patches [
    ifelse pxcor < (max-pxcor / 2) [
      set zone "work"
      set pcolor green    ;; z.B. grün für Arbeitsbereich
    ] [
      set zone "meeting"
      set pcolor gray     ;; z.B. grau für Meetingzone
    ]
  ]

  ; Create Maker Turtles
  create-turtles number-of-makers [
    set is-manager? false
    set shape "person"
    set color blue
    set has-lost-block? false
    set my-daily-output 0
    ; Place them randomly in work zone
    let work-p one-of patches with [ zone = "work" ]
    move-to work-p
  ]

  ; Create Manager Turtles
  create-turtles number-of-managers [
    set is-manager? true
    set shape "person"
    set color red
    set has-lost-block? false  ; not used for managers, but keep consistent
    set my-daily-output 0
    ; place them randomly in work zone
    let work-p one-of patches with [ zone = "work" ]
    move-to work-p
  ]

  reset-ticks
end 

to go
  ; Each tick = 1 hour
  ; We have 8 ticks per day (2 blocks of 4 hours)

  if (ticks mod 8 = 0) and (ticks > 0) [
    finalize-day
  ]

  ; 1) Possibly start a meeting (unless it's "meeting-free Wednesday")
  if (random-float 1.0 < meeting-frequency) [
    ; Check if day mod 7 = 2 => Wednesday
    if not (meeting-free-wednesday? and ((day mod 7) = 2)) [
      start-meeting
    ]
  ]

  ; 2) Manager productivity if no meeting cost is subtracted
  ;    We only do it once per tick. The meeting cost was handled inside start-meeting.
  ask turtles with [ is-manager? ] [
    ; + manager-tick-value each hour
    set my-daily-output my-daily-output + manager-tick-value
  ]

  ; 3) Handle Block progression
  set tick-in-block tick-in-block + 1
  if tick-in-block = 4 [
    finalize-block
    set tick-in-block 0
    set block-index block-index + 1
    if block-index = 2 [
      set block-index 0
    ]
  ]

  tick
end 

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
; MEETING LOGIC
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

to start-meeting
  ; managers always attend
  let mgr-participants turtles with [ is-manager? ]
  ; random subset of makers
  let mk-participants turtles with [
    (not is-manager?) and (random-float 1.0 < maker-meeting-prob)
  ]

  let all-participants (turtle-set mgr-participants mk-participants)

  if any? all-participants [
    set meeting-count meeting-count + 1

    ; Move participants to meeting zone for visual effect
    ask all-participants [
      let meet-p one-of patches with [ zone = "meeting" ]
      if meet-p != nobody [ move-to meet-p ]
    ]

    ; Managers lose manager-meeting-cost
    ask all-participants with [ is-manager? ] [
      set my-daily-output my-daily-output - manager-meeting-cost
      if my-daily-output < 0 [ set my-daily-output 0 ]
    ]

    ; Makers lose entire block
    ask all-participants with [ not is-manager? ] [
      set has-lost-block? true
    ]
  ]
end 

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
; BLOCK COMPLETION
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

to finalize-block
  ; award block-value to any maker who wasn't interrupted
  ask turtles with [ not is-manager? ] [
    if not has-lost-block? [
      set my-daily-output my-daily-output + maker-block-value
    ]
    set has-lost-block? false
    ; Teleport back to "work" zone at block end
    let work-p one-of patches with [ zone = "work" ]
    if work-p != nobody [ move-to work-p ]
  ]
end 

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
; DAY COMPLETION
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

to finalize-day
  set daily-maker-output sum [ my-daily-output ] of turtles with [ not is-manager? ]
  set daily-manager-output sum [ my-daily-output ] of turtles with [ is-manager? ]
  set total-productivity (daily-maker-output + daily-manager-output)

  ; Update cumulative outputs
  set cumulative-maker-output (cumulative-maker-output + daily-maker-output)
  set cumulative-manager-output (cumulative-manager-output + daily-manager-output)

  ; Increase day count
  set day (day + 1)

  ; Recompute average daily outputs
  ; day is now the count of days that have fully finished
  ; so we can do (cumulative / day)
  if day > 0 [
    set average-maker-output (cumulative-maker-output / day)
    set average-manager-output (cumulative-manager-output / day)
  ]

  ; optional: reset everyone's my-daily-output for the new day
  ask turtles [
    set my-daily-output 0
  ]
end

There is only one version of this model, created 8 months ago by Martin Bartsch.

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makers schedule.png	preview	Preview for 'makers schedule'	8 months ago, by Martin Bartsch	Download

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