Batch meetings into one or two days per week

Cluster all coordination into designated meeting days so the remaining days stay structurally intact.

Why it works

Even a single meeting on an otherwise clear day fragments two blocks (before and after) and imposes an anticipatory cost — the maker cannot fully commit to depth knowing an interruption is coming. Concentration-day batching eliminates this anticipatory overhead entirely and lets the maker enter blocks without a mental reservation.

How to do it

1. Designate one or two days per week as "meeting days" — all recurring syncs, 1:1s, and external calls go there.
2. Move any current recurring meetings into those days over two to three weeks.
3. On maker days, treat meeting requests as defaulting to the next meeting day.
4. Review the system quarterly; some roles need 2 meeting days, others 1.

Evidence

The attention residue concept (Leroy) and the observation that transition costs compound throughout a day both mechanistically support batching as a way to minimize total switching cost across the week. (mechanistic)

Meeting-day batching is a practitioner heuristic derived from the mechanism; no controlled study has isolated this specific structure.

Common mistake

Declaring maker days but allowing "quick" 30-minute syncs to creep in, which reintroduces the fragmentation the structure was designed to remove.