Merlin Mann
Merlin Mann at WWDC 2007
Merlin Mann at WWDC 2007
BornMerlin Dean Mann III
(1966-11-26) November 26, 1966
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
OccupationWriter, blogger, podcaster
NationalityAmerican
EducationNew College of Florida (BA)
Website
www.merlinmann.com

Merlin Dean Mann III (born November 26, 1966) is an American writer, blogger, and podcaster.

Early life and education

Mann was born Merlin Dean Mann III on November 26, 1966, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Mann received a B.A. from New College of Florida.[1]

Career

Writing

In September 2004,[2] Mann founded and began the exclusive writing for 43 Folders,[3][4] a blog about "finding the time and attention to do your best creative work."[2] The blog was last updated October 2011.[5] Mann coined and popularized the concept of "Inbox Zero", writing a series of articles in 2006 on 43 Folders, originally suggesting for an "Inbox DMZ".[6] Inbox Zero became associated with the Getting Things Done productivity strategy, and is a popular topic on Lifehacker.[7][8][9] In 2020 Mann stated he doesn't keep his inbox empty, and that the term has been misunderstood.[10]

Beginning in the mid-2000s, Mann wrote articles for Macworld,[11] Make (the "Life Hacks" series, with Danny O'Brien, February 2005 to November 2006),[12] and Popular Science (Ask a Geek series, 2005 to 2007).[13][14]

On August 18, 2009, Mann announced that he was writing a book, to be entitled Inbox Zero,[4] about "how to reclaim your email, your attention, and your life."[15] In 2011, he announced that he was abandoning the project.[16] Mann also writes for his personal blog, Kung Fu Grippe.

Podcasting

As a companion to the 43 Folders blog, Mann launched the sporadically broadcast 43 Folders podcast in 2005. In 2007, Mann launched You Look Nice Today, an award-winning comedy podcast that bills itself as "A Journal of Emotional Hygiene",[4] an effort he created with Adam Lisagor and Scott Simpson. The show's run ended in 2015, but a spiritual successor called California King was created in its wake in 2020 with the same team.[17] Mann has also produced QPR: Quotidian Public Radio, an audio podcast launched in January 2009, which was billed as "audio comfort food for annoyed liberals in fleece". Mann was one of the hosts on the MacBreak video podcast, and a core host on the MacBreak Weekly audio podcast. Since 2008, he has scaled back his appearances on the series.

Merlin Mann and John Roderick

Beginning on January 18, 2011, Mann has co-hosted the weekly Back to Work podcast with Dan Benjamin on 5by5,[18] where they discuss subjects like productivity,[19] work life,[20] and true costs of doing business.[21] In September 2011, Mann launched Roderick on the Line, a weekly conversation with musician/writer John Roderick.[22]

In May 2015, Mann and technology blogger Jim Dalrymple started The Dalrymple Report podcast, more recently presented as "The Dalrymple Report with Merlin Mann", which continued through its 32nd episode on September 15, 2015.[23] In June 2015, Mann began a 10 podcast series with John Siracusa in collaboration with Relay FM called Reconcilable Differences, which has since been extended. In October 2016, Mann began a podcast titled Do By Friday with Alex Cox and Max Temkin. The show continued after Temkin's June 2020 departure.[24]

Mann has also appeared as a guest on other podcasts, including the CBC radio show–podcast Spark, The Chronicle of Higher Education's ProfHacker,[4] Scruffy Thinking, CMD+SPACE, and various episodes of Dan Benjamin's The Conversation.

Videos

In early 2009, Mann produced a short video series, Most Days. On February 26, 2007, Mann launched The Merlin Show, a video podcast primarily dedicated to long-form interviews. Mann has also published a long-running series of video shorts named That Phone Guy.

Other work

Mann has been described as the "inventor" of the Hipster PDA,[3] a paper-based, DIY personal organizer that uses design cues found in David Allen's Getting Things Done. Mann is also known for his work with Quicksilver, a program used for quickly executing actions from the keyboard in Mac OS X.[25]

Mann was a member of the Tallahassee, Florida-based indie rock band Bacon Ray from 1994 to 1999.[26] He started a cover song project of Will Oldham's song "I Am a Cinematographer".[27]

Personal life

Mann started treatment for attention deficit disorder in 2008, something which he says helped his focus.[3] He occasionally talks about his experiences with ADHD on his Back to Work podcast on the 5by5 network.

Mann resides in San Francisco, California, with his wife and child.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Mann, Merlin (2015-03-17). "Merlin's Bio - Merlin Mann". merlinmann.com. Archived from the original on 23 March 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  2. 1 2 Mann, Merlin (2007-08-19). "About 43 Folders". 43folders.com. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 Anderson, Sam (2009). "In Defense of Distraction" (print, online article). New York Magazine (May 25): 6. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Jones, Jason B (2009-09-11). "The ProfHacker Podcast: Merlin Mann and the First Person Transitive". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Archived from the original on 2016-03-25. Retrieved 2018-02-15.
  5. ↑ Mann, Merlin (2009-01-09). "The Monthly Pimp: January '09 Edition". 43folders.com. Archived from the original on 22 March 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  6. ↑ Merlin Mann. "Fresh Start: The Email DMZ | 43 Folders". 43folders.com. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  7. ↑ "Inbox Zero - Tips, Tricks and Hacks for Doing Everything Better | Lifehacker". Lifehacker. 6 January 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  8. ↑ Dan Silvestre (21 November 2017). "GTD Gmail: Inbox Zero and Optimized Email Workflow". dansilvestre.com. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  9. ↑ "How to weed wack your inbox down to zero - Getting Things Done®". Getting Things Done®. 14 June 2009. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  10. ↑ Bernal, Natasha (2 January 2020). "Everything you thought you knew about inbox zero is wrong | WIRED UK". Wired UK. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  11. ↑ See, for instance, Mann, Merlin D. (2005). "Secrets of Mac superheroes: The inbox makeover" (online article). Macworld (April 26). Archived from the original on 20 March 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  12. ↑ See, for instance, makezine Staff (2006). "Latest from Merlin Mann [Life Hacks series, with Danny O'Brien]" (online article). Make Magazine (Makezine) (November 20). Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2016. Individual article pages at this magazine suggest 41 articles from these two authors, indicating a wider span than 2005 to 2006, but specific citation could only be found to support a conclusion of eight Life Hack articles. Further sourcing is needed to support any more.
  13. ↑ See, for instance, How 2.0 Geeks (2007). "Fourteen Things Geeks Can Teach the World" (online article). Popular Science (March 20). Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 17 March 2016.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) Note, links to further specific Mann articles, from this article, are inoperable.
  14. ↑ See, for instance, Mann, Merlin (2005). "Ask a geek: Merlin Mann—Q: What is tagging?" (online article). Popular Science (June 23). Archived from the original on 11 June 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  15. ↑ "I'm Writing a Book. | Inbox Zero". Archived from the original on November 4, 2009. Retrieved October 19, 2009.
  16. ↑ Burkeman, Oliver (22 December 2016). "Why time management is ruining our lives". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  17. ↑ Today, You Look Nice. "California King". California King. Retrieved 2021-03-23.
  18. ↑ Mann, Merlin & Benjamin, Dan (2016). Back to Work (podcast). Austin, TX, USA: Dan Benjamin and 5by5 Productions. Archived from the original on 21 March 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2016. The first broadcast was on January 18, 2011 ("Alligator in the Bathroom" Archived 2016-03-09 at the Wayback Machine, and episode 263, "The Working Definition of Love" Archived 2016-03-26 at the Wayback Machine, was broadcast on March 15, 2016.
  19. ↑ See, for instance, Mann, Merlin & Benjamin, Dan (2011-01-25). Back to Work #2: Picture of a Boat (podcast). Austin, TX, USA: Dan Benjamin and 5by5 Productions. Archived from the original on 26 March 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  20. ↑ See, for instance, Mann, Merlin & Benjamin, Dan (2011-03-08). Back to Work #7: Vocational Wheel (podcast). Austin, TX, USA: Dan Benjamin and 5by5 Productions. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  21. ↑ See, for instance, Mann, Merlin & Benjamin, Dan (2012-01-31). Back to Work #52: Walk the Coastline, Bitches (podcast). Austin, TX, USA: Dan Benjamin and 5by5 Productions. Archived from the original on 26 March 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  22. ↑ Ward, Lisa (18 February 2020). "Game Plan: A Musician/Podcaster Starts Thinking About Retirement". WSJ. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  23. ↑ Dalrymple, Jim & Mann, Merlin (2015). The Dalrymple Report (podcast). San Francisco, CA, USA: loopinsight.com. Archived from the original on 18 March 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2016.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: location (link) The first broadcast was on May 18, 2015, entitled "Fish and Lumber, and episode 32, entitled "You Hacked My Matrix," was broadcast on September 15, 2015.
  24. ↑ Nicole Carpenter (23 June 2020). "Former employees accuse Cards Against Humanity of a racist and sexist office culture". Polygon. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  25. ↑ A further, similar product in this market is The Omni Group's OmniFocus.
  26. ↑ "Bacon Ray | Rock Music". Archived from the original on February 9, 2010. Retrieved October 19, 2009.
  27. ↑ "I am a Cinematographer | A Power Pop Cover Project". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved July 7, 2007.

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