Episode 97: Pope of the Office

Published: Dec. 11, 2012, 10 p.m.

TOPIC: Using GTD to sanely and intelligently decide what to do, and when, and where.

\n\n

This week, Dan and Merlin continue their discussion of David Allen's Getting Things Done system.

\n\n

Hopping over the basic workflow and setup (you'll definitely need the book for that), this is all about doing\u2014leveraging the horizontal and vertical axes of GTD to intuitively choose exactly the right task at any given moment.

\n\n

Regardless of interruptions, regardless of unexpected change, and regardless of what you're mindfully not doing.

\n\n

David Allen calls GTD, "The Art of Stress-Free Productivity," and this is the episode where you'll find out how having put this system in place can yield astronomical improvements in how your actual things get done.

\n\n

Also included: a teaser for January's "iTunes management" series, plus recommendations for the three best comic series Merlin read this week.

\n\n

Links for this episode:

\n\n

So.

\n\n

  • Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 1: The Fantastic: Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar, Adam Kubert, John Dell, Danny Miki: 9780785113935: Amazon.com: Books
  • X-Men: Season One: Dennis Hopeless, Jamie McKelvie: 9780785156451: Amazon.com: Books
  • Fantastic Four: Season One: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, David Marquez: 9780785156413: Amazon.com: Books
  • Amazon.com: Spider-Man: Season One (9780785158202): Cullen Bunn, Neil Edwards: Books
  • Secret War: Brian Michael Bendis, Gabriele Dell'Otto: 9780785142287: Amazon.com: Books
  • Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev Omnibus, Vol. 1: Brian Michael Bendis, Lee Weeks, David Mack, Alex Maleev, Manuel Gutierrez, Terry Dodson, Gene Colan, Klaus Janson, John Romita, Joe Quesada: 9780785131120: Amazon.com: Books
    An epic of ambition, betrayal, and comeuppance culminates with the world learning the devil's mask hides a pair of blind eyes! The hero of Hell's Kitchen is assailed as both civilian and super hero by a wave of his worst enemies - including the Owl, Mister Hyde, Bullseye, Typhoid, and the Kingpin of Crime! But it's the heart of the Man Without Fear that gets the real workout with not only the introduction of Milla Donovan - but also the Black Widow, Elektra, and Echo! Who? Echo! Plus: the mystery of Leap-Frog and the trial of the White Tiger! Also featuring Luke Cage and Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, and enough other guest-stars to fill a jury box! Collects Daredevil
    \n
  • Alex Ross - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  • Alex Maleev - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    He first teamed with Bendis on Todd McFarlane's Sam and Twitch series in 2000-2001 before they were recruited for Daredevil. In 2006, Maleev finished his run with Bendis in Daredevil and planned a collaboration with the writer on a new ongoing Spider-Woman series. Bendis and Maleev collaborated once again on the much delayed four part Halo: Uprising miniseries from Marvel Comics. Bendis and Maleev are currently working on a creator owned comic book named Scarlet and on Moon Knight Vol. 4.[2]
    \n
  • Brian Michael Bendis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Brian Michael Bendis (born August 18, 1967) is an American comic book writer and former artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) for his self-published, Image Comics and Marvel Comics work.
    \n
  • BENDIS! [Tumblr site by Brian Michael Bendis]
  • OmniFocus for Mac - The Omni Group
  • OmniFocus for iPhone - The Omni Group
  • nvALT 2.1 - Notational Velocity Fork
  • Drafts for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad on the iTunes App Store
  • Nebulous Notes
  • Epicenter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    The epicenter or epicentre is the point on the Earth's surface that is directly above the hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or underground explosion originates. The word derives from the New Latin noun epicentrum, the latinisation of the ancient Greek adjective (epikentros), "occupying a cardinal point, situated on a centre", from (epi) "on, upon, at" and (kentron) "centre".
  • \n\n

  • Baldwin's Beans
    Baldwin's Beans is a small operation. So small, in fact, that I roast each bag of coffee beans you order, one at a time. I'm picky about my coffee, and you should be, too. I'm in Columbus, Indiana, a town of about 40,000 people with two Starbucks locations and exactly zero options for fresh, locally produced coffee, so I took matters into my own hands and started doing it myself.
  • \n\n

  • Jaime Sommers (The Bionic Woman) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Born in 1949, Jaime is the daughter of James and Ann Sommers. Jaime was raised in Ojai, California, and she showed high potential in the sport of tennis
    \n
  • Estelle Getty - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  • Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes - dougscripts.com
    Download 444 (and counting) free user-contributed AppleScripts for Apple's iTunes that will help make managing your digital music collection easier and more fun!
  • \n\n

  • A Therapeutic Dose of\xa0Imodium - The Talk\xa0Show - Mule Radio Syndicate
    Very special guest Merlin Mann joins John Gruber to talk about booze, iTunes 11, and the sorry state of over-the-counter cold medication in the U.S.
  • \n\n

  • MusicBrainz - The Open Music Encyclopedia
    MusicBrainz is an open music encyclopedia that collects music metadata and makes it available to the public.
    \n
  • MusicBrainz Picard - MusicBrainz
    MusicBrainz Picard is a cross-platform (Linux/Mac OS X/Windows) application written in Python and is the official MusicBrainz tagger.
  • \n\n

  • Release group \u201cRevolver\u201d by The Beatles - MusicBrainz
  • 5by5 | After Dark #297: After Back to Work #96
    In which Dan totally schools Merlin on the surprising extent of Spider-Man's powers.
    \n
  • College Level Examination Program - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    There are 2,900 colleges which grant CLEP credit. Each institution awards credit to students who meet the college's minimum qualifying score for that exam, which is typically 50, but it does vary by school and exam. The tests are useful for students who have obtained knowledge outside the classroom, such as through independent study, job experience, or cultural interaction.
    \n
  • Ethan Schoonover
  • Ethan Schoonover (ethanschoonover) on Twitter
  • Amazon.com: Puro Caff, 20oz: Kitchen & Dining
  • Kobayashi Maru - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  • Beatles Metadata? Fixed! Guru. Productivity... | kung fu grippe
  • Saga #4 So great. | kung fu grippe
  • Moon Knight (2011) Brian Michael Bendis and Alex... | kung fu grippe
  • Jean Vander Pyl - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  • [MG01] Good Night
  • TopatoCo: Skullcrusher Mountain Shirt
  • Nary a Dude | You Look Nice Today
  • This week's episode of Back to Work is very kindly sponsored by Smile's PDFpen, Squarespace, and Hover (use code DANSENTME for 10% off),