This New York Times article on President Obama’s late-night routine is great. I love reading about people’s work routines. What better person to read about than the president? A couple of things struck me about his late night routine:

  1. His routine sounds very familiar.
  2. There has to be a better way to do this.

Pretty much every person with manager type responsibilities stays up late into the night finishing items from the normal work day that couldn’t be completed because of various meetings, responsibilities, and what-have-you.

Generally speaking, this is a sign that some delegation is in order. However, given the nature of this particular gig and of politics in general, any more delegation of responsibility opens up the possibility for even more criticism and attack. Add to that the tremendous burden that BO carries as the first (and thus far) only black president. Each and every decision has and will be picked a part and scrutinized.

It is good that the top guy is taking an extreme interest in everything he possibly can, while taking some time to be a human being and spend time with his family. While I am sure it is fun to get a first run movie in the White House Viewing Room, some of the fun of going out and doing the entire movie-going experience is lost.

Fame sucks. I’m sure.

Tip of the hat to John Gruber, everyone’s favorite blogger.