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Merlin at IDEO: "Know How" Talk with Scott Underwood

Scott Underwood from IDEO was kind enough to invite me down to their Palo Alto HQ for a tour of the renowned design group (they designed Apple’s first mouse!) and to participate with him in one of the company’s internal “Know How” talks. It was very informal (and — because this was during my recent “100-year sinus infection” — I was completely high on cold medicine).

We talked about Getting Things Done, life hacks, knowledge work, nostalgia for scarcity, and the problem of getting addicted to productivity advice, among many other topics. This one’s a tour de force.

Video runs about an hour, and yes: I am wearing a handsome Big Lebowski tshirt. Abide.

Mea culpa — this was an intimate little gathering held for the benefit of those in the room and wasn’t intended as a for-video talk show shoot. So audience members’ questions were not recorded on-mic. Apologies for you not being able to hear them, but I think you’ll mostly catch the gist.

Many thanks to Scott Underwood for inviting me in and for hosting the talk, and thanks also to Eric Stangarone, who shot the video and who was kind enough to permit me to share this with you guys, as well. Awesome company. Great people.


Update 2007-10-09 08:14:45 PST

Oooo…almost forgot — alternative media formats (thanks, Blip!)


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Rivercat0338's picture

So glad to hear I’m not

So glad to hear I’m not the only one out there with a sinus infection that won’t go away!

Merlin Mann's picture

Re: So glad to hear I’m not

If it weren’t for Theraflu, I don’t know what I would have done.

I also hear good things about Neti pots.

Rivercat0338's picture

neti pots

I have one, but it scares me to death. If you don’t tilt your head just right it feels like you’re drowning. Plus, if you’re well into the infection, your nasal passages will be so sensitive the warm saline makes them burn like you’ve been shoving jalepeño seeds up your nose.

cephalopodcast's picture

Feed me

Are these in the 43 Folders’ podcast feed? Why not make it easy for aggregation?

em's picture

Re: Merlin at IDEO: "Know How" Talk with Scott Underwood

You should make a category called high on cold medicine.

em's picture

hey...

Where’s the end?

nurlewis's picture

Sinus Infection

Ask your doctor for a Z-pack. Works wonders!

 
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