Ask Founders: What does your work schedule look like?

From pg's Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule:

When we were working on our own startup, back in the 90s, I evolved another trick for partitioning the day. I used to program from dinner till about 3 am every day, because at night no one could interrupt me. Then I'd sleep till about 11 am, and come in and work until dinner on what I called "business stuff."

I tried all sorts of schedules, time blocking, pomodoro, late, early, long hours, short hours, seven days a week, five days a week, etc.

Seven years in, I ended up here: working each day, working ONLY when I feel motivated, studying quite a bit, and not worrying about the hours. I instead focus on deliverables, being happy/healthy, etc. Oddly enough, I end up getting more done than when I forced 10/12 hour days of solid work. When I would force 70+ hour weeks, for years at a time, it was terribly draining. When I only work when I want, I actually still end up working roughly 60 hours (I like it, it is fun). However, each day seems like a vacation. Want to do some open source? Do it. Want to goof off for a while? Do it. Want to get some work done? Do it.

Works for me at least. I'll do the same routine when I am "retired". :)

I have two alternating schedules because I work an Industry Job in addition to my Project(s). The first half of the week (3-4 days alternating) is dedicated to my Project(s). I work 10 Hour Days from Home, Lunch Break and all. The last half of the week (3-4 days alternating) I work my Industry Job, 12 Hour Shifts (Network Engineer) from 6am to 6pm. I'll usually work an additional 2 Hours on my Project(s) when I get home. So I'm looking at around 82-86 Hours a Week. Pretty wild schedule. I'm moving to San Jose soon so this will all change (finding a new Industry Job and hopefully finding success with some of these Projects)

For me, it is 6 days per week, starting promptly at 7, ending between 6pm and 11 pm. I found that getting in early I can get organized and drive through priorities easier. The first two hours are golden, where I am fresh and focused. I also found after my first startup that regular, patterned, reliable sleep is incredibly important for your brain and mood. Mood being the biggest surprise, it matters a lot to the people you work with and customers that you're not a jerk. Go figure.

I try to work no more than 9 hours per day 5 days per week. I schedule blocks of time on Google calendar and try to be super productive during those blocks and track the results week to week. (Pomodoro technique, phone won't ring before 11, etc.)

Usually this means 8-5 with a "go to bed" alarm set 9 hours before I want to wake up.

It's a daily struggle, but I feel like keeping the balance of time on projects is key. It's easy for me to fall into a rut and work on one area and neglect others.

For me, I cannot yet quit my day job. So everything is done through Basecamp. There are three people in the team. I am the developer. We have discussions, work out a to-do and post it on the calendar. When I come home from work I work on the to-do. I do this from ~6pm to ~10pm, 4 days a week. I work as a developer at my day job up to 10 hours a day. When I get home I can barely look at the screen I am so tired. This start-up thing is no fun.

I try to keep a normal 9-5 work schedule since keeping such a schedule is overall more productive for me. Sometimes I work on the weekend but usually just one day unless there is some big deadline. I sometimes go in early like 7am too (I am a morning person).

7 days a week, 12 hours a day. Every other I take a trip (but still bring along needed tech)