Note taking methods
A brief overview of the methods and tools for taking notes, built on their own experience and a subjective view of the topic.
Initially, I had the idea to start this text with a brief generalization of the main objectives, justifying the maintenance of various records "for myself", but in the end I did not do that. Those who lead them themselves know what it is for, because in most cases, they came to this with their mind. And for those who do not feel any need for this, and nothing needs to be explained. These are probably happy people, free from the influence of the world, so as not to have to operate with entities that are not always completely in their heads and not burdened with having to carry a suitcase of vital information. Always a little jealous of them (no sarcasm), because for me personally, the need to regularly save data on external (relative to the brain) carriers has long become everyday.
For quite a long time, I tried to find the most convenient and flexible note taking system that meets my needs. The searches were quite versatile: I managed to try a lot of various software, starting with the usual notepad-like text editors and ending with the mixed online and offline wiki. As a result, I found not one convenient means for myself but rather a considerable number of them. Moreover, among them it was not so easy to identify a definite leader. Each tool was good in certain conditions, and at the same time could greatly lose to competitors beyond them.
')
Simultaneous use of a large number of ways to keep records slowly but steadily led to an increase in the level of confusion, so I decided to systematize them in order to delimit the areas of application of each tool. The result was a memory card, which I quote below. Perhaps in some places it looks a bit messy. This is due to the fact that in addition to simply listing the options for keeping records with their pros and cons, I also explained my own experience of using each of them. One should not lose the attention of the subjectivity of the presented system. I did not set myself the goal of creating a comprehensive universal model, since In my opinion this is a deeply hopeless occupation. On the contrary, the scheme includes only what I considered relevant. Such systems need to be grown on the basis of their context, personal goals and needs.
(click to open the full-size scheme in PDF format)
To summarize, I will list specific tools and their areas of application:
I would be glad if someone finds this microscopic useful. I, in turn, would be interested to hear a third-party opinion on the topic raised. If someone wants to add to the map or build its own version based on it, I post its source file in MindManager 6 format in open access: notes.mmap [34 kb].
Initially, I had the idea to start this text with a brief generalization of the main objectives, justifying the maintenance of various records "for myself", but in the end I did not do that. Those who lead them themselves know what it is for, because in most cases, they came to this with their mind. And for those who do not feel any need for this, and nothing needs to be explained. These are probably happy people, free from the influence of the world, so as not to have to operate with entities that are not always completely in their heads and not burdened with having to carry a suitcase of vital information. Always a little jealous of them (no sarcasm), because for me personally, the need to regularly save data on external (relative to the brain) carriers has long become everyday.
For quite a long time, I tried to find the most convenient and flexible note taking system that meets my needs. The searches were quite versatile: I managed to try a lot of various software, starting with the usual notepad-like text editors and ending with the mixed online and offline wiki. As a result, I found not one convenient means for myself but rather a considerable number of them. Moreover, among them it was not so easy to identify a definite leader. Each tool was good in certain conditions, and at the same time could greatly lose to competitors beyond them.
')
Simultaneous use of a large number of ways to keep records slowly but steadily led to an increase in the level of confusion, so I decided to systematize them in order to delimit the areas of application of each tool. The result was a memory card, which I quote below. Perhaps in some places it looks a bit messy. This is due to the fact that in addition to simply listing the options for keeping records with their pros and cons, I also explained my own experience of using each of them. One should not lose the attention of the subjectivity of the presented system. I did not set myself the goal of creating a comprehensive universal model, since In my opinion this is a deeply hopeless occupation. On the contrary, the scheme includes only what I considered relevant. Such systems need to be grown on the basis of their context, personal goals and needs.
(click to open the full-size scheme in PDF format)
To summarize, I will list specific tools and their areas of application:
- Notepad is a plain paper notebook of a small (easily transportable) format for recording contact information, and other short notes. In this regard, the paper is much more convenient than notebooks of cell phones and PDA in that it has zero interface latency. With a notebook, you never have to wait until it loads or executes some other insanely important internal process, which is obvious only to developers.
- A large-format notebook or notebook is used to present and formalize ideas at an early stage of reflection, as the most suitable tool for this. Sometimes it is also used at an early planning stage, when you need to figure out how best to distribute cases during the day or week. Since I usually do not take, because This is a fairly large item, and it is usually stored in a “stationary” workplace.
- PDA - I tried a damned amount of software for PocketPC, but in the end I stopped at a simple Word file opened in Pocket Word by pressing the hardware button. Entries to this file are added on the principle of a stack, with the date in front of each of them. It is used as a rule for writing drafts of texts that are later planned to be transferred to a large computer (posts, letters, etc.). When such records are kept, it is very important to regularly clean the text file, otherwise it can quickly turn into a dustbin, in the depth of which one can easily get lost what should not be lost.
- Desktop tools
- WikiPad on a usb flash drive is a desktop wiki, with a completely acceptable interface (at least, the best in its class). It is used for a wide variety of small entries (except contacts for which there is Outlook), which can be more or less stored in such a format. It is in the wiki that notes from a temporary file on a PDA are usually transferred.
- Many text files, arranged in directories. Before I started using wiki, it was the most convenient means of storing texts, giving 100 points ahead to fancy and cumbersome note managers. In addition, this is the most platform-independent tool that you can imagine.
- Google Notebook has been using it relatively recently, and it seems that I like it, although they say with large amounts of data Google Notebook seriously slows down. Google Docs , oddly enough, has not yet taken root.
I would be glad if someone finds this microscopic useful. I, in turn, would be interested to hear a third-party opinion on the topic raised. If someone wants to add to the map or build its own version based on it, I post its source file in MindManager 6 format in open access: notes.mmap [34 kb].
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/6210/
All Articles