Re: Should Brainstorm be part of a multi-faceted outliner

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Note: This message is from the outliners.com archive kindly provided by Dave Winer.

Outliners.com Message ID: 4439

Posted by stephenz
2005-10-27 09:00:39

The forced focus aspect of Brainstorm is just one of its features. Admittedly, it is not always the best way to write, especially if you already have a clear idea of what the structure of your project is. I think we need to remember the name… Brainstorm. That implies, I think, that it is best used as a tool for creating something from nothing… That is, if you are starting with a blank slate, Brainstorm is the fastest, easiest way to capture disjointed, but possibly relevant, ideas at the beginning of a project. Then, once you’ve emptied your head, Brainstorm allows you to build some structure—the forced focus comes in here once you start making some items subordinate to others. I have found, then, I can use the focus to add more details/ideas that maybe didn’t emerge in the initial brainstorming stage. This, I think, is the real advantage of Brainstorm. At this point, however, I can’t keep working in Brainstorm, because it isn’t an ideal environment for the task of actually composing writing (or re-writing existing text). NoteMap is better, but I’m most likely to dump it all into a word processor. However, at that point, I lose the ability to quickly re-organize the contents—one of the drawbacks from using a multi-applicaiton approach.

Steve Z.

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