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What text files do you use?
Mitch Wagner | Jan 29 2008
I started keeping text files of ideas a year or two ago, but the system quickly collapsed due to its own complexity. I am a journalist and a blogger, and so I started out with three files. — blog ideas and article ideas. I also had a file called “inbox” for random thoughts, most of which would get turned into GTD next actions. The first difficulty I encountered was that it wasn’t always clear, up front, what’s going to turn out to be a blog, and what will be an article. Back then, I went by gut feeling, now I think I have some good thumb rules — but either way, this decision should not be made at this stage of the process. Then I said to myself, “I really ought to group similar ideas together, because they’re likely to all end up in the same article or blog.” For instance, I’m a Second Life enthusiast, and I’m working up a list-type blog post or article: “N Easy Things Second Life Can Do To Make Itself More Useful And Attractive” So I really ought to group all those ideas into a separate file. So I started keeping separate files for separate projects. Separate ideas for separate contexts, too — for example, I’m one of those people who gets only limited time with his boss, so I had a whole list with the filename, “@Tom.” Quickly, I had a half-dozen lists, then a dozen, and eventually the whole thing got too hairy and I had to give it up. But then I heard Merlin’s talk at Macworld, and he mentioned, in passing, while making another point, an “ideas” file. And I thought to myself, “One file for EVERY idea. That’s the ticket!” Just open Quicksilver whenever I have an idea for something, invoke the append-to command, append the idea to the “ideas” file, and then move on. Read through the file and organize occasionally. Very much in the spirit of the “trusted system” in GTD. Only now I’ve opened a second file — I’ve started a Facebook group for InformationWeek (the publication I work for), and I’m using the “Post” command to post links to selected articles. I like to do that once a day. When I see an article during the day that should be promoted, I append it to the “promo” group, and I plan to check that group every morning. I put next actions in OmniFocus. It’s usually pretty easy right upfront to tell what’s an “idea” and what’s a “next action.” Or it seems that way to me. Which leads to the question:What sorts of lists and plain text files do you keep? 44 Comments
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 OmniOutliner Pro is My TicketSubmitted by sbhebert on January 30, 2008 - 8:53am.
I am a writer (fiction and blog). I use an OmniOutliner Pro document to capture pretty much everything. It may not be the most efficient system, but it works for me. I am actually going to blog about this document in the near future, but here is a quick run down of my “big” sections under which everything is captured:
Works for me. What I REALLY like is the ability to sort of track these major projects from “idea” to “in progress” to “written.” I use Remember the Milk to get me through my to-do’s…the OmniOutliner document is just where I brainstorm and track the big movements. »
 Also consider Circus Ponies NotebookSubmitted by Ian Beck on January 30, 2008 - 9:10am.
OmniOutliner Pro is an excellent program. Another possibility for people who want hierarchical outline support is Circus Ponies Notebook, which provides a very interesting nested hierarchy model of organization. The "notebook" analogy doesn't really work for me (if I'm using a computer, a relational database makes a lot more sense), but it's a very polished piece of software that may do the trick for some. Version 3.0 is bringing flow charts with it, too, which might make it an even more appropriate place to store random ideas, thought flows, and the like. »
 How do you review this?Submitted by wood.tang on January 30, 2008 - 12:58pm.
I do something similar with OmniOutliner, but it’s a big black hole. I put stuff in there, it makes me feel better, then I never look at it again. If I don’t write about something within 2-3 days of thinking of it, I usually lose the urge, and when I do look back at that file, I say, “What was I thinking?” I think what I really need is more of a journal, less for “ideas” and more for bits and pieces of text I can maybe reuse someday. I also fall into that trap of where to keep it all; I jot a lot of things down in notebooks, but it’s such a drag to transcribe to the computer. I should do a post about this. Let me write that idea down … »
 Re: OmniOutliner Pro is My TicketSubmitted by toydesigner on February 17, 2008 - 1:17pm.
thanks. I was manically writing out some great ideas out on my notebook about some conceptual ideas that I’d like to use as the overarching framework for a story of some sort eventually… it seemed incredibly effortless to simply jot down the sort of high-level ideas I love to create, rather than feel overwhelmed by the intimidating monotony of writing without knowing what will happen next. I’ve been entertaining story-boarding my writing ideas for a bit, but never thought of Omni Outliner as a sort of story board-like means to do this… if not even more fluidly than an actual storyboard. »
Loose text files? The horror!Submitted by Ian Beck on January 30, 2008 - 9:06am.
Personally, I would never trust ideas and so forth to loose text files. Sounds like a great way to never find them again. I've used a variety of different software for storing this kind of thing, and as a result of my constant shareware trials, I'm currently using a few different applications for this task: Journler for story fragments, random thoughts, and other creative bits and pieces (off the computer this stuff goes in my trusty moleskine). Notae for my shareware registrations, CD keys, and so forth. WebnoteHappy for URLs that I'd like to visit/read/post to Ma.gnolia in the near future. MarsEdit for blog post ideas. Tasks and so forth go into Things, because OmniFocus doesn't do it for me. For projects where I'm trying to brainstorm a bunch of ideas out at the same time, I use OmniOutliner. I'm currently evaluating Yojimbo as a possible replacement for Notae. I imagine Together or EagleFiler would work just as well. If I could start from scratch, I think that I would try to find a single application that would permit me to do some very slight organization (probably through tags) of each idea/thought/fragment immediately when I created it (at least for the generalized stuff; tasks would still go into Things, for example). I love the idea of just tossing ideas and so forth someplace for later reference, but the problem is finding them again. I think the mark of a good system here is that it's very easy to get the text down and it's very easy to add the slightest amount of organization possible so that you can still find things. Good luck finding a system that works for you! »
 Re: What text files do you use?Submitted by Mitch Wagner on January 30, 2008 - 9:17am.
OmniOutliner and other outliners are great for organizing data — but I’m looking at something to capture ideas when I have them. I go through it every few days or couple of weeks to organize. »
If you are have access to the internet...Submitted by shinghei on January 30, 2008 - 3:00pm.
…you can try Writeboard or Google Notebook. »
Text files for temporary information, index cards for GTDSubmitted by DrCurl on January 30, 2008 - 9:19am.
Before anything, Merlin, will it be possible to see your MacWorld presentation video somewhere, or maybe just the audio? I also had problems dealing with the numerous text files involved in a GTD sytem… since I’m on windows, I do not have acces to superb progams such as omnifocus. I switched my GTD system to index cards and I still use text files for reference stuff or for temporary ideas that popup in my head. I rely on the indexing software to deal with those. »
Try a wikiSubmitted by warpstone on January 30, 2008 - 10:20am.
A wiki might be an easy and scalable solution:
Though I think the biggest reason to try using a wiki for this type of thought management is really just down to how simple it is to get to writing ASAP without adjusting to an application’s workflow requirements/limitations. »
Or VoodooPadSubmitted by Ian Beck on January 30, 2008 - 11:10pm.
In the wiki vein, VoodooPad is another great place to stick your thoughts. I usually use it for cohesive project planning (world building for fiction and so forth) because its auto-linking magic works best for me then. There's lots of clever ways you could use it for just general snippet management, though. »
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