Productive Talk

Productive Talk Compilation: 8-episode podcast with GTD's David Allen

Merlin Mann — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 09:05:34 -0500

Productive Talk Comp.: Episodes 01-08 on Odeo

As promised, here’s the single-file compilation of the Productive Talk podcast interviews I did with David Allen, the author of Getting Things Done. The final version’s eight episodes clock in at a considerable one hour and twenty-six minutes, so this should give you plenty to listen to while you’re in line at the DMV.

Some editing misadventures stole the time I’d set aside to write up my final comments on the series, but those will be coming along soon, I promise. In the mean time, as I said in the podcast ep., I want to sincerely thank David, Rick Kantor, Robert Peake, and Zircon Skye Studios for their participation and help with the Productive Talk series. David in particular was unbelievably generous with his time, and I’m very grateful to have had this opportunity to interview him.

Hope you all enjoy hearing the whole series, in order, all in one place. There’s some nuggets of GTD gold in there, if I do say so myself.

Please note: the version included in the podcast feed is a lowly but compatible MP3 file; Apple-y folks with iPods and sexy AAC support can grab this tastier m4a version, which includes chapter markers that make it easy to flip through the individual episodes quickly.

You can learn more at Odeo.com, download the MP3 version, or just listen from here by using the Flash player below:

”Productive Talk Compilation: 8-episode podcast with GTD's David Allen” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on November 28, 2006. Except as noted, it's ©2008 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

David Allen on GTD's future (and why it just works, as is)

Merlin Mann — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 09:27:21 -0500

Productive Talk #08: GTD 2.0?

43 Folders and The David Allen Company present the eighth in a series of conversations that David and Merlin recently had about Getting Things Done.

Summary

In this episode, Merlin asks David one of the most popular questions about GTD; if he could write the book all over again today, what would he do differently? David addresses how people’s understanding of GTD evolves on repeated exposures, as well hinting at future plans for making GTD easier for people to start and maintain. He makes some great points on learning to pay attention to your “higher altitudes,” and wraps up by underscoring the importance of not having to rethink every task throughout the day. (13:11)

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

Merlin’s comments

If you bend David Allen’s ear for more than 30 seconds about GTD, you’ll hear some variation of a phrase that I heard a lot over the couple days we hung out in Ojai: “It’s all in the book!”

Say what you will about The David, but he is not a man who suffers from The George Lucas Complex. Much to the consternation of his publishers, his fans, and — one suspects — even some of his colleagues, David feels like he has already written the complete and definitive work on the Getting Things Done system. And he very clearly has no desire to futz with that basic system without a good reason; it’s sound and complete, as is, and there you go. Next subject.

And, I have to say, in a lot of ways, I’ve come to really admire this.

For one thing, it was immediately clear to me that, although David heads up a smart and growing company that enjoys a ravenous fanbase, his interest in the strictly pecuniary aspects of his work sometimes seems hilariously modest. While he long ago could have flipped DavidCo into a Shake-and-Bake franchise of ghost-written paperbacks (an idea I apparently once thought was a pretty great idea myself), David and his staff usually have more interesting things in mind. And while I can’t say that I think every idea is a guaranteed winner from my own perspective, I really respect the fact that DavidCo seems unwilling to sacrifice the quality of their product and their message for a fast buck. Not something you see every day.

I’ll admit that there’s still a part of me that thinks both David, the fans, and the system itself could benefit greatly from more examples of and options for sane GTD implementation and maintenance (and how to narrow the options to what’s best for my particular hang-up). Funny thing, though: in talking to David, it became clear to me that, on some level, that dearth of “official” material on implementation options was an undeniable factor in the early success of 43 Folders. So, in retrospect, I probably shouldn’t complain too much.

In many ways, though, David’s right; it is all in the book, even if you aren’t yet at a place to understand how it potentially fits together in your world. So, in this episode, I really like how he highlights the way repeated readings and exposures to GTD inevitably lead to “getting” some part of the system that used to seem corny, pointless, or hand-wavey (God knows that’s been true for me). So, I guess I do see part of the challenge from David’s point of view; how do you get somebody quickly ramped-up into a system that may not reveal its best stuff to you for two or more years? Definitely tricky business.

But for those of you out there already doing GTD and feeling like you sometimes miss the “there,” I think this particular ep provides some very sound insight into how these pieces down on “the runway” are inextricably and necessarily tied to “the higher altitudes.”

Last planned episode….but wait…

Although this eighth episode of Productive Talk is our last in this series (yep, we’re already talking about doing it again), I do encourage you to stop back by next week.

In addition to offering my own thoughts on the series and what I learned from it (hint: a lot), I’ll also be sharing the (very very highly requested) single file download of all 8 episodes. Yes, it will have iTunes chapters. No, it won’t have bonus footage or director’s commentary. But it will make it a bit easier to take Productive Talk with you and listen to the whole series at a sitting. Subscribe via iTunes to receive the last last episode as soon as it goes live.

Listen to Episode #08 of Productive Talk

Grab the MP3, learn more at Odeo.com, or just listen from here:

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”David Allen on GTD's future (and why it just works, as is)” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on November 21, 2006. Except as noted, it's ©2008 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

David Allen on best practices for implementing GTD

Merlin Mann — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 11:31:34 -0500

Productive Talk #07: Implementing GTD

43 Folders and The David Allen Company present the seventh in a series of conversations that David and Merlin recently had about Getting Things Done.

Summary

In this episode, David and Merlin look at best practices for implementing Getting Things Done. David shares some great advice on firewalling review time and warns us how to avoid the perils of “cruise control.” (9:37)

More at: http://www.davidco.com/ and http://www.43folders.com/

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

Merlin’s comments

My favorite bit in this one (jump to 1:38) is where we learn that some of David’s best stuff seems to have had a genesis in an unlikely place — from his tenure as the manager of a gas station, back in the day.

This is important, not just because we get a candid glimpse of a very fun guy who’s too often pegged as just another business consultant — I love that David demonstrates how most any job will benefit from firewalled time to do your meta work.

Note especially that, contrary to what one might call “worst practices” of GTD, DA is not suggesting you spend your day obsessing over GTD and trying to perfect your “system.” You set aside time to clear the decks, as he likes to say, so that you can work — really work — and not just live in a perpetual twilight of productivity futzing.

Building those walls and really honoring them from day one may be one of the best ninja tips you can learn for responsibly implementing GTD.

Listen to Episode #07 of Productive Talk

Grab the MP3, learn more at Odeo.com, or just listen from here:

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”David Allen on best practices for implementing GTD” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on November 13, 2006. Except as noted, it's ©2008 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

David Allen Interview: Getting Things Done with Email

Merlin Mann — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 08:00:50 -0500

Productive Talk #05: Email

43 Folders and The David Allen Company present the fifth in a series of conversations that David and Merlin recently had about Getting Things Done.

Summary

In this episode, David and Merlin talk about email. We learn that David coaches people to deal with a high volume of messages by treating them like you would any other input.

(Running time: 17:53)

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

Merlin’s comments

Email was one of the topics that I was most interested in talking to David about, and I found his responses to my questions thought-provoking.

David makes the case that email is basically just another input — like voice mail, for example — that needs to be emptied and processed every day. That it’s not substantially different (apart from how badly mostly people do it right now).

While I absolutely agree on processing to zero, I think opinions may differ on the significance of email’s impact on the life of the average knowledge worker.

I think David’s approach and advice are tactically quite sound in terms of fixing your own half-acre of the problem, but I’m still ambivalent about a prevailing culture of email in which the implied expectation is that we always need to be on, for example, responding to business-day messages within minutes of their arrival. My friends working down in the Valley (you know who you are) tell me this is the elephant in the room in terms of trying to get anything accomplished between 8 and 6.

While email has matured in terms of adoption, I think we’re still in the very early days of understanding how to use it responsibly across teams and organizations — we’re still a long way from seeing a standard for sound email usage that acknowledges that most “real work” can and should take place outside of an inbox. I really look forward to seeing how we can each help to initiate these conversations in our own circles.

In the mean time, you’ll love hearing David’s advice on Getting Things Done in email. He has a way of cutting to the point that I find really refreshing. Also watch for his prediction on the Blackberry’s inevitable progeny: The Watermelon!

Listen to Episode #05 of Productive Talk

Grab the MP3, learn more at Odeo.com, or just listen from here:

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”David Allen Interview: Getting Things Done with Email” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on October 30, 2006. Except as noted, it's ©2008 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

43f interview: David Allen on Getting Things Done with your team

Merlin Mann — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 10:00:33 -0400

Productive Talk #04: Teams

43 Folders and The David Allen Company present the fourth in a series of conversations that David and Merlin recently had about Getting Things Done.

In this episode, David and Merlin talk about the role of GTD in teams and how to lead by example.

(Running time: 08:46)

Grab the MP3, learn more at Odeo.com, or just listen from here:

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”43f interview: David Allen on Getting Things Done with your team” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on October 23, 2006. Except as noted, it's ©2008 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

43f Interview: GTD's David Allen on the "Someday Maybe" list

Merlin Mann — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 08:19:44 -0400

Productive Talk #03: Someday Maybe

43 Folders and The David Allen Company present the third in a series of conversations that David and Merlin recently had about Getting Things Done.

In this episode, David and Merlin talk about how people use their someday/maybe list, as well as look at some ways you can make best use of your project list and support materials. David also makes a case for capturing 100% of whatever has your attention. (10:22)

Grab the MP3, learn more at Odeo.com, or just listen from here:

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Links

Productive Talk Podcast Page

Productive Talk link for this episode

”43f Interview: GTD's David Allen on the "Someday Maybe" list” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on October 16, 2006. Except as noted, it's ©2008 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Introducing "Productive Talk" Podcast: 43 Folders meets David Allen

Merlin Mann — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 08:27:57 -0400

Sample from ‘Productive Talk: 43 Folders Meets David Allen’

Starting tomorrow (Tuesday), 43 Folders and the David Allen Company will be bringing you “Productive Talk,” a joint podcast series featuring audio of conversations that David and I had during a recent visit near his offices in Ojai.

This was a lot of fun for me to do, especially since it gave me the chance to ask David many of the questions that you and I have both had about Getting Things Done — so, as you might expect, there’s a heavy focus on implementation and best practices, as well as how to troubleshoot problems in your own GTD system. Lot of good stuff that I think you’ll enjoy and will learn from as much as I did.

Subscribers to the 43 Folders Podcast (subscribe now) will receive new episodes of “Productive Talk” automatically, although you can also just stop by either 43 Folders or The David Allen Company’s site for all the latest web-based updates.

Tomorrow’s inaugural episode is on procrastination, with more episodes coming once a week or so for the next few weeks.

Here’s a little sample from an upcoming episode to give you a taste of what’s coming:

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”Introducing "Productive Talk" Podcast: 43 Folders meets David Allen” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on October 09, 2006. Except as noted, it's ©2008 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Productive Talk

Productive Talk Compilation: 8-episode podcast with GTD's David Allen

David Allen on GTD's future (and why it just works, as is)

Summary

Merlin’s comments

Last planned episode….but wait…

Listen to Episode #08 of Productive Talk

David Allen on best practices for implementing GTD

Summary

Merlin’s comments

Listen to Episode #07 of Productive Talk

David Allen Interview: Getting Things Done with Email

Summary

Merlin’s comments

Listen to Episode #05 of Productive Talk

43f interview: David Allen on Getting Things Done with your team

43f Interview: GTD's David Allen on the "Someday Maybe" list

Links

Introducing "Productive Talk" Podcast: 43 Folders meets David Allen