Back to Work
1,203 episodes - English - Latest episode: 26 days ago - ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsBack to Work is an award winning talk show with Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin discussing productivity, communication, work, barriers, constraints, tools, and more.
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Episodes
Episode 594: Honey Sun Bear
October 18, 2022 20:45 - 1 hour - 61 MBFortunately, Merlin had thoroughly prepared for 62 minutes of lizards, Morgellons, animal powers, and Tom Cruise. e594-bears https://files.fireside.fm/file/fireside-uploads/images/3/316b04e9-2b1f-4ccb-98f1-28fe023874a8/NQ9f9_D-.jpeg
Episode 593: One of the Eel Women
October 11, 2022 20:45 - 1 hour - 84 MBSleep, practice, infrastructure, power, and OCD are themes. As per usual. e593-power https://files.fireside.fm/file/fireside-uploads/images/3/316b04e9-2b1f-4ccb-98f1-28fe023874a8/gu-haXo7.jpg
Episode 592: Dirt Cat
October 04, 2022 21:00 - 1 hour - 58 MBDan has Covid, so Merlin agrees to carry him, and yet Dan improbably carries them both.
Episode 591: A Closeted Magical Thinker
September 30, 2022 20:45 - 1 hour - 58.7 MBThere are a few odds and sods, but, yeah, it's mostly about adjudicating Peak Cruise. Runner-Up Titles Bespoke Slime Hole Gavin Assumed Nom De Repair Species-Ending Annoyance Mosquito Tasks One Set of Footprints The Thing You Do Before It Breaks Creating Conditions Old People Jam-Up Don't Give Me Notes The Boston Janitor Movie
Episode 590: A Load-Bearing Feeling
September 13, 2022 21:15 - 1 hour - 60.1 MBFeeling bad about feeling bad is ultimately optional. 2022-09-13 Rhys Darby https://files.fireside.fm/file/fireside-uploads/images/3/316b04e9-2b1f-4ccb-98f1-28fe023874a8/2S54RNRq.jpg
Episode 589: The Outgassing of Ancient Woods
September 06, 2022 22:45 - 1 hour - 88 MBFrom choosing a pencil to relocating your ladder, one big and complex part of Knowledge Work is deciding how to do what you do.
Episode 588: Quid Pro Crow
August 30, 2022 21:00 - 1 hour - 67.1 MBDISCUSSED: Your hosts talk about some of their favorite Mac apps available via Setapp (https://setapp.com/). TK e588 https://files.fireside.fm/file/fireside-uploads/images/3/316b04e9-2b1f-4ccb-98f1-28fe023874a8/3yl4LC40.jpg
Episode 586: We Have Met the Audience, and He Is Us
August 09, 2022 21:00 - 1 hour - 60.6 MBDISCUSSED: A very moist man's lawyer learns how Dropbox works; Merlin introduces "The Bump"; Dan has a cool new calendar technology; and Merlin speed-rounds some odds and sods.
Episode 585: The Wahlberg Uncertainty Principle
August 02, 2022 05:00 - 1 hour - 52.5 MBFrankly, it was a bit of a fever dream, but your hosts discuss sportsball, collective singular nouns, Coleridge's trap street, LEGO, and a handful of Merlin's recent wins. Lego https://files.fireside.fm/file/fireside-uploads/images/3/316b04e9-2b1f-4ccb-98f1-28fe023874a8/nko9p8p_.jpg
Episode 584: Groomsman Gifts for the Funeral
July 29, 2022 16:00 - 1 hour - 66 MBMerlin has thoughts on survival, aging, and whether to bother trying to understand whatever NFTs are. Next up, the triumphant return of "Cool Thing I Learned This Week" brings updates on iOS dictation and a very Merlin video about organization. Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on. —Nick Fury, The Avengers (2012) (https://gist.github.com/merlinmann/b64360ee2192b33b7a41eaa423cc4b86)
Episode 583: The Dentist Picks the Chair
July 15, 2022 19:30 - 1 hour - 73 MBYour hosts discuss dramaturgy, package managers, and monospaced fonts. Ladies?
Episode 582: Dadsplaining
June 28, 2022 20:30 - 1 hour - 72.9 MBDISCUSSED: Dan misses going to the movies; cool ways to save your bacon in Git; and Merlin is excited about a (new to him) app for personal tracking and quantization.
Episode 581: A Frog That No One Saw
June 21, 2022 19:00 - 1 hour - 90.6 MBDISCUSSED: Merlin runs the table this week with: unseasonable heat; the joy of realizing when someone obviously loved (and probably had to fight for) the thing that they made; and finally, an extended meditation on a phone charger and the decisions that seek to bridge past and future.
Episode 580: Not All Avenues
June 14, 2022 22:00 - 1 hour - 75.3 MBA classic odds n' sods episode. Merlin needs help with a journaling via voice solution; your hosts look at password enhancements in the Apple betas; praise for Apple's SF fonts and SF symbols; a trippy video about paper sizes (and the universe); and, oh, those whacky Mormon sects.
Episode 579: Memento Morey Amsterdam
June 07, 2022 21:00 - 1 hour - 70 MBDan & Merlin are live from the show floor, sharing their thoughts on the WWDC 2022 keynote address.
Episode 578: Raft of Anchors
May 31, 2022 20:00 - 59 minutes - 55.8 MBOn memory, security, and sleeping injuries.
Episode 577: Transylvanian Meditation
May 24, 2022 22:15 - 1 hour - 75.2 MBConsidering the value of finding something new to suck at. Runner-Up Titles Stop Trying to Meditate and Just Breathe I’m That Guy in My Own Head The Confidence of the New Idiot
Episode 576: People Who Don’t Want to Talk to a Lamp
May 17, 2022 21:15 - 1 hour - 86.7 MBIt's a very special "Oops! All Automation Check-ins" episode. But, of course—as always—there's also a philosophical component.
Episode 575: You're Being Scared Wrong
May 10, 2022 20:15 - 1 hour - 62.4 MBDISCUSSED: Dan's new tenants flip him the bird, and Merlin has strong feelings about email. Runner-up titles: Glass Surfing I Don't Believe in a Lizard Binary A Game Stop and a Bathroom A Mother Son Relationship That Is Weird The Allergies of Childhood Medium-Sized Important Breakthrough The Cultural Installation of Fear
Episode 574: Tired and Fourteen
May 03, 2022 21:30 - 1 hour - 68.2 MBYour hosts are finally back in action with vital updates on #productivity and #creativity. Also, ginger ale and egg substitutes.
Episode 573: Shovels, Not Teaspoons
April 13, 2022 00:00 - 1 hour - 69.4 MBDISCUSSED: Updates on new Plex functionality; praise for Severance; plus some updates on Merlin's new setup—and pursuing the life that you'd like to have. Runner-Up Titles: Shoulders Come in Pairs Meaty and Sad Sucked Up Into My Body Cavity Really Hurts Your Roller Skating Muscle It's a Nice Box I Saved Some Nice Boxes
Episode 572: My Open Source Thomas Edison Film
April 05, 2022 21:30 - 1 hour - 74.9 MBDISCUSSED: Big news from Plex; Merlin has an expansive new computer project; and Dan continues to make his way at a new gig using his trusty calendar.
Episode 571: Open Faced Sandwich of Reality
March 29, 2022 21:45 - 1 hour - 63.9 MBDISCUSSED: Dan is doing new things that require a new approach to his calendar. Merlin proposes some appropriate Calendar Kyber Crystals.
Episode 570: Toilet Experiments
March 21, 2022 19:30 - 1 hour - 82.4 MBDISCUSSED: Dan is back from reporting on the show floor; recommendations for some Back to Work-adjacent podcast episodes; incidental thoughts and advice on presentations as performance; everybody wants a better email app; and Dan shares his thoughts on The Batman; Runner-Up Titles Two Bags of Dongles Just a Butt in a Chair Dirty Little Secret About Daddy A Face in the Brady Bunch Grid The Washington Fulfillment Society
Episode 569: An Incurious Outsider
March 08, 2022 20:00 - 52 minutes - 48.1 MBDISCUSSED: Dan and Merlin talk about Apple's latest event and consider what the future looks like from Cupertino.
Episode 568: Assistant to the Regional Danager
March 04, 2022 20:00 - 58 minutes - 53.1 MBLinks: uBlacklist for Safari on the App Store — "Blocks sites you specify from appearing in search engine results" uBlacklist for Safari | Search Engine filter for Safari Why Are There So Many Bad Bosses? - Freakonomics — "When these firms select people to be managers based on their current job performance, they are actively making themselves worse off. In other words: the Peter Principle is as real as Laurence Peter said it was. And, I’m editorializing here, it would also seem t...
Episode 567: Sit on Me
February 22, 2022 21:15 - 1 hour - 71.1 MBDISCUSSED: the Russians are coming; Dan has thoughts on Marvel TV shows, and Merlin has thoughts on Hawkeye specifically; Merlin bravely and boldly recommends watching a film that's often considered the greatest ever made; in Follow-Up, Dan has an update on Taskpaper as well as wanting advice on how to fire Photoshop; Merlin seems weirdly excited about his new pencil; yet more praise is heaped on Rogue Amoeba; and, finally, in an unexpected twist, both your hosts realize they did the same thi...
Episode 566: Vice-President of Doing It Wrong
February 15, 2022 20:00 - 1 hour - 87.7 MBDISCUSSED: your hosts can't complain (but, sometimes, they still do); a provisional craving for secular pre-cana; what are your canonical family holidays?; Dan has to sign something; a quick clarification on eels; Dan has some camera struggles, but Merlin offers advice that's costly and not actually all that useful; as Merlin re-approaches his World of Text, he is obviously getting even more gaybones for VS Code; and, finally, Merlin begins sketching his new project about energy, fuel, and co...
Episode 565: The Injustice of Youth
February 08, 2022 21:00 - 1 hour - 64.9 MBDISCUSSED: boiling ATX water and the long-term return of the Bang-Bang Machine; thought-provoking insight on youth, hustle, and work-life balance from Slate Political Gabfest; and Dan tries his hand at TaskPaper. Makebelieve Help, Old Butchers, and Figuring Out Who You Are (For Now)
Episode 564: The Elephants of Style
February 01, 2022 20:15 - 1 hour - 82.7 MBDISCUSSED: 🐇🐇; Dan shares follow-up on surviving his Covid week; a listener emails the show with a fascinating offer; your hosts discuss childhood mail; in Breaking News, the actor, M. Emmet Walsh is still alive; it's fun to say "Jackery"; praise for Maira Kalman; some initial thoughts on Apple's Universal Control; and finally, advice on the wisdom of running betas. Emmet Walsh https://files.fireside.fm/file/fireside-uploads/images/3/316b04e9-2b1f-4ccb-98f1-28fe023874a8/VvOWGzkx.jpg Runner-Up...
Episode 563: Bang-Bang Machine
January 25, 2022 20:30 - 1 hour - 93.4 MBAn epic journey that begins with Dan's viral week and ends with a misunderstanding about the first Chicago album.
Episode 562: No More Attempts on My Father’s GitHub
January 11, 2022 20:00 - 1 hour - 80.7 MBDISCUSSED: Memories of Super Dave; KEYnote by LockPickingLawyer; Dan gets conspiracy theory-curious; the tapestry of entertainment by cults; Dan helps Merlin understand Git; and Merlin gets a new hub. Links for this episode: LockPickingLawyer - YouTube Keynote - LockPickingLawyer - YouTube The Super Bob Einstein Movie (HBO) "Curb Your Enthusiasm" Palestinian Chicken (TV Episode 2011) - Reference View - IMDb Superdave Osborne on Letterman, 1990 - YouTube Super Dave - King Of The Road -...
Episode 561: Flip the Telescope Around
January 05, 2022 15:45 - 1 hour - 91.2 MBTaskapalooza begins. Rock me, Joseph Alberto Santiago. Links for this episode: Kiss - "Love Gun" - YouTube Why 70% Isopropyl Alcohol Is a Better Disinfectant Than 99% Isopropyl Alcohol - Mun Global Calm Calendar TaskPaper – Plain text to-do lists for Mac Pixies - "Wave of Mutilation" - YouTube Dan does not like the guitar bends on this song. Pixies - "Gigantic" (Live, 1988) - YouTube Meat Puppets - "Up on the Sun" - YouTube Wings - "Listen to What the Man Said" - YouTube
561: Flip the Telescope Around
January 05, 2022 15:45 - 1 hour - 91.2 MBTaskapalooza begins. Rock me, Joseph Alberto Santiago.
Episode 560: The Cat of Amontillado
December 28, 2021 20:00 - 1 hour - 85.3 MBWrapping up the year with thoughts on unearned Covid optimism, defining "normal," Roomba training, Microsoft Visual Studio, plus a new (and decidedly more positive) reframing for New Year's resolutions. Links for this episode: @thesunnypodcast | Linktree The Always Sunny Podcast on Apple Podcasts The Gang Goes Jihad — The Always Sunny Podcast — Overcast This Is How Michael Caine Speaks - The Trip - BBC Two - YouTube Steve Coogan & Rob Brydon in The Trip - James Bond & Liam Neeson - You...
560: The Cat of Amontillado
December 28, 2021 20:00 - 1 hour - 85.3 MBWrapping up the year with thoughts on unearned Covid optimism, defining "normal," Roomba training, Microsoft Visual Studio, plus a new (and decidedly more positive) reframing for New Year's resolutions.
Episode 559: Grade on the Curve of Time
December 22, 2021 13:00 - 1 hour - 81.7 MBTalking Spider-Man and phones for kids. Links for this episode: Magneto | Marvel Database | Fandom Dimensions | Into the Spider-Verse Wiki | Fandom Griffin Explains Electro's Origins in Amazing Spider-Man 2 | Blank Check with Griffin and David - YouTube Merlin's Wisdom Project (Draft)
559: Grade on the Curve of Time
December 22, 2021 13:00 - 1 hour - 81.7 MBTalking Spider-Man and phones for kids.
Episode 558: Pseudism
December 14, 2021 23:00 - 1 hour - 84.2 MBMerlin's Best of 2021™ kicks off with the return of "Cool Things I Learned This Week." Links for this episode: The Talk Show #331 – “John Was the Problem,” with Merlin Mann Merlin Mann returns to the show to discuss two brief topics (with a few asides): my dream of opening a steakhouse, and Peter Jackson’s Beatles documentary Get Back. Overcast - ‘John Was the Problem’, With Merlin Mann — The Talk Show With John Gruber — Overcast Watch The Beatles: Get Back | Disney+ ttscoff/KeyBinding...
558: Pseudism
December 14, 2021 23:00 - 1 hour - 84.2 MBMerlin's Best of 2021™ kicks off with the return of "Cool Things I Learned This Week."
Episode 557: Food Court of Pain
December 07, 2021 22:00 - 1 hour - 81.5 MBA classic odds and sods episode covering: Rush lyrics; personal pronoun tips; Fitness+ meditation; more melees with various voice assistant ecosystems; a big shout-out to the iconic Listener Rachel A.; and Merlin's newfound love of Keyboard Maestro. Links for this episode: The Wisdom Project (Draft) Keyboard Maestro 10.0.2: Work Faster with Macros for macOS David Smith extends his Apple Watch battery – Six Colors Wearing an Apple Watch in Glencoe - David Smith, Independent iOS Developer...
557: Food Court of Pain
December 07, 2021 22:00 - 1 hour - 81.5 MBA classic odds and sods episode covering: Rush lyrics; personal pronoun tips; Fitness+ meditation; more melees with various voice assistant ecosystems; a big shout-out to the iconic Listener Rachel A.; and Merlin's newfound love of Keyboard Maestro.
Episode 556: The Only Way Out Is Claws
December 03, 2021 21:00 - 1 hour - 73.7 MBThe Boys are back, and they're not sure how big this thing gets. Links for this episode: Amazon.com: Celery Man : Alexa Skills Good morning, Paul. What will your first sequence of the day be? Alexa, load up Celery Man!
556: The Only Way Out Is Claws
December 03, 2021 21:00 - 1 hour - 73.7 MBThe Boys are back, and they're not sure how big this thing gets.
555: The Accretion of Non-Essential Things
November 16, 2021 23:15 - 1 hour - 87.4 MBDISCUSSED: Dad stuff; flying too close to the smart home sun; appreciating the magic of Wes Anderson; the virtues of UPS battery backup; and, finally, Merlin starts tentatively sketching a unified field theory for rethinking how we think about and use space.
Episode 555: The Accretion of Non-Essential Things
November 16, 2021 23:15 - 1 hour - 87.4 MBDISCUSSED: Dad stuff; flying too close to the smart home sun; appreciating the magic of Wes Anderson; the virtues of UPS battery backup; and, finally, Merlin starts tentatively sketching a unified field theory for rethinking how we think about and use space. Links for this episode: Drew on Twitter: "@hotdogsladies I had the same problems with Google Docs rich copy/paste. Turned out to be TrackerZapper. Might be worth toggling that to see if that fixes it." / Twitter Why Do Wes Anderson Mo...
554: Not the Water's Problem
November 09, 2021 19:45 - 50 minutes - 35 MBDISCUSSED: please stop changing the clocks; our kids are not us; the people of England have spoiled or corrupted several very good words; The Ellis Island Bit; surnames mean things; getting pelted with rocks and garbage; a Michael Penn playlist for 1 to 3.5 of you jackals; some Mad Max talk; it's always two things with Kevin Kelly; and, finally, some Marvel talk.
Episode 554: Not the Water's Problem
November 09, 2021 19:45 - 50 minutes - 35 MBDISCUSSED: please stop changing the clocks; our kids are not us; the people of England have spoiled or corrupted several very good words; The Ellis Island Bit; surnames mean things; getting pelted with rocks and garbage; a Michael Penn playlist for 1 to 3.5 of you jackals; some Mad Max talk; it's always two things with Kevin Kelly; and, finally, some Marvel talk. Links for this episode: Spotify – "In a Nutshell" - A Gentle Introduction to Michael Penn Getting started with one the great, un...
553: Bioavailable Chambers of Flexibility
November 02, 2021 19:15 - 1 hour - 44.9 MBThis is what happens when Merlin stays up til 2 a.m. watching a movie and then has to record a podcast at 9 a.m. Because, your day is a continuum.