[…] Merly Merl and his Daveness talk about interruptions on the latest 43 Folders podcast. In this episode David and I talked about interruptions. How you can minimize the bad interruptions and make the best of the good ones. […]

The Productive Talk series with David Allen is very interesting but I’m not very fluent in English. Is it possible to have a transcript of the series? Thanks.

[…] 43f Podcast: David Allen on interruptions - 43Folders […]

The reason I find interruptions stressful is twofold. Firstly, I have a lot of tasks which can take 2-3hrs to complete. But I can’t set aside time for these: I’m expected to be available everytime someone comes up to my desk - and that’s mostly for stuff that far more junior people should be doing.

I can’t ignore it until I’ve decided whehter or not it’s urgent/important enough to warrant my attention. And by then, I’ve sufficienly lost the thread of what I’m doing that I just as well go and do it.

The problem (hopefully) becomes much smaller on Dec. 31st, since I’m (hurrah) focussing on the 1/4 of my job that’s the most interesting, and can legitimately tell the other queries to go away. And then, 95% of the legitimate interruptions will be by phone, and from people that have already done the initial triage.

But the fundamental problem won’t go away: how do I legitimately block out time to do work in a culture that stresses availability?

In the podcast, you say “cool folders” “two sided plastic folder”. What were you refering to?

When you told the story of the red sash, I thought immediately of my workplace. We’re building Mars rovers over here, and the schedules can get intense. A custom red baseball cap was made that reads “I’m on the critical path to Mars!” Then it gets handed around during the course of the project to whoever is in that hotseat this month. They don’t wear it all the time to repel interruptions, but it’s a useful & humorous reminder.

Ha! Glad to hear the shout-out to Target and the police tape. I work at TGT HQ and just attended the GTD session. Everyone was encouraged to take enough yellow tape to seal off their cubes to keep people from distracting them during the collection process. When you attend the session, Target actually blocks 2 days on your calendar - one to attend the session and another to get organized back at your desk. It’s really cool how they encourage the whole GTD process here at work. Plus, you get the GTD with Outlook article and the nifty templates from davidco.com.

[…] Grab the MP3, learn more at Odeo.com, or just listen here (after the cut). […]

[…] Merlin just uploaded episode 6, which is about interruptions, and why you shouldn’t consider all interruptions to be a bad thing. Link […]

I’m a fim and television producer (Queer Eye and Inked are some of the shows I’ve recently produced) and I’ve yet to come across a system better than GTD for keeping me focused on what needs to get done. I’ve tweaked it somewhat, sometimes using contexts, sometimes not (my own setup is on my website - not selling anything, just giving away the info) but the key for me is to keep all “to do’s” as verb-based single steps. I’ve managed writing a novel, producing TV series, and developing complex new projects, all with this idea at the core.

Hello Merlin!

I am an avid listener of your podcast, and this last one made me want to ask this question. I hope you’ll have time for a response! :)

Paper vs. digital vs. both —- how to do both in unison? You and David were talking about handling one’s ‘system’, and it should not matter if it’s on paper or digital. A bit later, you acknowledged that many of your listeners are IT workers. Personally, I’m a programmer; so inevitably, some of my tasks are computer-based, while others are definitely not.

My question is, how do I track both these separate domains in one system? I fear using two task lists (one paper, one digital) because they’ll get out of sync, or I won’t be looking at the right one.

Your approach of “use folders on the desktop, and close ‘em if you’re willing to be interrupted” won’t be easily translated into a computer’s desktop, because everything is in that one application (in my case, Lotus Notes), and not so easily grouped, closed and reopened.

Merlin, please help!

When I worked at my first startup company in a cubicle environment and I needed an uninterrupted hour I went out and got one of those signs you would see in a store window with the clock dial that says “I will be back at…”. I would then set the clock face for an hour and hang this up over the entrance to my cubicle. I would then put on big headphones that blocked out the outside world. Part of making this work is not doing it all day long but only for limited periods of time.

[…] 43f Podcast: David Allen on interruptions The next Productive Talk episodes has arrived. __________________ my website | my blog | my business […]

Sorry if this is OT (or Just Plain Wrong), but I can’t get this pod from Odeo using my client. It was okay up until today.

I think Odeo has freaked and renamed all 43folders files to “download.mp3”.

Ipodder decides it has to re-get every 43F pod, but then only keeps the last one. Alphabetically….

i pulled out ternouth’s postings from tufte’s site, and did a little formatting: http://drauh.typepad.com/Ternouth/

Merlin mentioned something about wanting a “magic hat” to ward of interruptions. Here’s mine

[…] 43f Podcast: David Allen on interruptions | 43 Folders Podcasts with David Allen of “Getting Things Done” fame… (tags: podcast productivity) […]

[…] 43f Podcast: David Allen on interruptions | 43 Folders “In this episode David and I talked about interruptions. How you can minimize the bad interruptions and make the best of the good ones.” (tags: gtd productivity podcast davidallen interruptions tips lifehacks) […]

[…] Productivity, Career & Personal Development Tracking the when….then items Updating the project list …one verb at at time 43f Podcast: David Allen on interruptions […]

In the podcast, you say “cool folders” “two sided plastic folder”. What were you refering to?

I was talking about these guys, which I really like a lot (reviewed). Although, of course, manila folders could serve the same purpose on a budget.