Merlin tokens: An idea whose time has come ...
Have you thought about ways to re-introduce scarcity into your life and work? A few great tools for managing time devoted to meetings is discussed by Merlin Mann at http://www.43folders.com/2007/09/27/vox-pop-recreating-scarcity. Merlin Mann writes,
I have a friend who told me he was thinking about giving his project managers a weekly pile of chips that could be redeemed for person-hours in meetings. So, to schedule firewalled, group face-time, the PM would need to cough up the equivalent number of tokens from her pile. Thus, one, long, all-hands meeting might require the whole week’s stack. While, fewer, shorter meetings with smaller groups made the pile go further. It was just an idea, and I’m pretty sure he never implemented it, but I think it’s a fascinating concept. Why? Because I love the idea of re-introducing scarcity into systems that lack boundaries
Enter Mike Montero's Mule Design. And, here are the chips:


Man (and Mann), I could really use a few of those chips today.