I've run a small distributed team for years, and I've mostly resolved the manager vs maker challenge through a combination of: -desynced collaboration tools -

I've run a small distributed team for years, and I've mostly resolved the manager vs maker challenge through a combination of: -desynced collaboration tools -avoiding interruption based tools as much as possible -short & focused bi-weekly meetings at the front or back end of the day It allows the majority of the day for a maker schedule, while allowing for just enough manager time. Also with desynced tools (ex: outstanding support/bug/etc issues in Trello), as long as everyone is checking in at regular internals (say 2x a day) -- things can move through fairly quickly without constant interruptions. For the manager side I use a mix of: -Calendar/Contacts -Evernote -Workflowy -Trello -Slack (at scheduled times, leaving it on all day is horrible idea) For the maker side: -Workflowy -Trello -Pathjet.com (A small tool that I designed for myself which mixes GTD + Kanban + Pomodoro) -Prior to my own tool, I used a Pomodoro timer + Workflowy on my machine -Sometimes I think it's great to get off my machine, and just use a pen+legal pad to do planning/sketching/brainstorming