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Weekend Homework: Questions for Merlin Mann

By , on Friday, February 23rd, 2007

Merlin

Ever since I came up with the idea for the GTD Masters Series, I’d secretly hoped to get the chance to interview the great Merlin Mann of 43Folders.com. And as I was pretty certain he wouldn’t just volunteer his time, I thought I’d ask him – so I emailed him a couple days ago to pitch him the idea. Guess what happened next? He responded!

While he didn’t flat-out agree to do the interview, he did say he was willing to discuss it and that he wanted to see a list of the questions/topics I wanted to cover. He also asked that I try not to cover anything that he’s already discussed at length on 43f (like how he got started with GTD), which I completely understand. So, instead of giving him the “canned” list of questions I’ve been sending to the rest of my would-be GTD Masters participants, I’ve decided to ask you, my loyal readers, to help me come up with some questions to ask him.

I’m sure most of us have thought of something we’d like to ask this man at one time or another, and this is your chance. Leave your proposed questions for him in the comments and, from your responses, I’ll create the list. And FYI, I reserve the right to alter, abbreviate or otherwise bastardize your submissions to my liking (as well as include questions of my own). Also, be sure to include your website URL as I plan to credit each question to the original submitter in the actual interview post (should it happen, of course).

I’m a big believer in the idea that “n heads are better than one”, and I figured this would be a good opportunity to increase the “community feel” around here. I know you guys will come up with some great ideas, so do me proud :)

I’ll be accepting candidate questions until Wednesday, February 28 and emailing them to Merlin a day or two after. Get to it!

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  • http://gtd.marvelz.com/blog gtdfrk

    It would be great if you could get Merlin to answer some questions.

    Here are a couple of things I would like to know from him:
    - which part of the whole GTD process is the most difficult for you and why?
    - what are your favorite tools for Getting Things Done, and how long did it take for you to settle on that specific set of tools?
    - you have interviewed The David extensively: what’s he like and what is his opinion about the exponentially growing GTD community?
    - how on earth do you make the time to do all the things you do?? (do you consider yourself a GTD Master or do you simply never sleep?)
    - what other important productivity elements/methods do you combine with GTD and how?

    Good luck with the interview, Brett!

  • http://gtdwannabe.blogspot.com GTD Wannabe

    Something that has always interested me is how GTD-afficionado handle GTD with other people, especially those close to them. How does Merlin handle GTD concepts with his significant other – do they speak the same language, or does Merlin translate concepts from GTD to non-GTD-speak, or does it just not come up? (Myself, I find that I’m kind of in the closet about using GTD – I do it quietly by myself and just say things like “I’ll put that on my list” when someone asks me to do things.)

  • http://www.legalandrew.com Andrew Flusche

    Brett,

    This is freakin awesome! I’ll try to think up a question or two. For now, I second GTD Wannabe’s question. There are SO many times that I want to tell my wife: “please email that to me, so I can put it on my X list.” I haven’t…yet. :)

    By the way, are “n heads better than one” when n = 0?

    Take care,
    Andrew

  • http://toddstanfield.com Todd Stanfield, PhD, LCSW, PIP

    Could you please ask Merlin how he sees routine tasks such as exercise, meditation, etc. (Sharpen the Saw – Covey) fitting into a GTD process? Thanks.

  • http://www.dreamingnz.com Jonathan

    I’d really like to see Merlin’s full system out in full. It’s difficult to know exactly what he does. You can surf all over 43Folders, but it’s difficult to get your head around it.

    Please, ask him to describe his system in full!

  • http://fatfighters.blogspot.com/ Clarrie

    I’d like to hear what he does in his weekly review, step by step each action I mean, as this is something I’m struggling to get to work for me.

    I’d also like you to ask him if us non-ituners can please get to access his podcasts too?

  • brett

    Alright, I just sent the email containing the questions.

    Thanks very much for your participation!

    Clarrie – You can find the 43f podcasts on Odeo – http://odeo.com/channel/34348/view/

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