What do the Daily Schedules of Taro People Look Like?

I wouldn't advise taking too many lessons from startup employees to structure your thinking/time at a large company like Instacart.

A lot of my time in Taro goes into figuring out what problems we should solve. Talking to users (either engineers or companies) and figuring out what their needs are and how it may overlap with Taro's goals. As a result, I also think my schedule is much more erratic compared to when I worked at Facebook. In a single week, I may have a solo working day, then meet up with Alex/Charlie once, and then go to SF to meet some founders.

Hopefully, the success criteria for you is more well-defined!

For the highest performers, sometimes it's not all about how they structure their day but about what they decide to work on given an allotted amount of time. It's possible to have a situation where you have two people, one with a chaotic schedule, and one person with regimented focus blocks. But, the person with the chaotic schedule may be more impactful because the decisions they make lead to the biggest business changes.

Here's more insight into the Taro schedule:

We have a sprint planning session Monday morning where we plan out tasks that we want to complete. But, there are always changing priorities where new issues will pop up throughout the week. So, we are always adding new tasks to the sprint or backlogging existing tasks.

Since the team is so small right now, I'm grateful to have open blocks of time where I can focus on coding for most of my days.

And if I need to sync with Alex or Rahul, it's fairly easy to get on a call with them to work through any issues.

For productivity and health, I'll go to the gym in the morning. If I miss it, I'll go to the gym in the afternoon. If I'm really not feeling productive at my place, I'll go to a cafe to change up my environment and jolt myself into concentration mode.

So the last response I made in this thread is still mostly accurate: "What Does a Day Working on Taro Look Like?"

On my end, things are a bit different as we're prioritizing the mobile apps more. However, they won't take a majority of time - That will still go to course creation for the next 6+ months.

Thanks all. I appreciate the responses.

My question was less about the "what" of what you guys are working on, and more about the "how", if that makes sense. Hence why I was wondering what a daily schedule for you guys looks like.

I totally get that there's a difference between startups and big tech, but insight about your schedules at either is valuable.

I just had an idea, can I provide my daily routine and people can let me know if there's room for improvement? Generally, my day at home (not at the office) looks like this:

8 AM - Wake Up, Get Changed, Brush Teeth, Turn on Phone

8:30 - Go for Walk Outside

9 - 10:30/11: Work/Focus Block

10:30/11 - 12/12:30: Lunch + Nap

12/12:30 - 2/2:30: Work

2/2:30 - 2:30/3 - Walk/Bike Break

2:30/3 - 5: Work

5 PM - 8PM: Workout + Dinner

8 - 10/10:30: Work (or learn something if I've hit my goal for the day)

10:30 - midnight: Wind down: Brush teeth, shower, 10-20 minutes browsing internet, read book

midnight - 8 AM: sleep

My question about focus blocks was basically related to should I cut out walks or shorten lunch or get rid of a nap to have a 4 hour work period instead of the 2 to 2.5 hours that I'm currently working with.