Using PersonalBrain

Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Aug 1, 2011 at 06:04 PM

On another thread, Susanne asked how I use PersonalBrain. I don’t want to hijack that thread, so I’m starting a new one. I hope other PB users will join the discussion. (I’m going to use the PersonalBrain jargon as follows: Brain = database; Thought = note or node or item.)

If you have not read or seen it yet, I posted an article on my blog about this, which you can find here:

http://welcometosherwood.wordpress.com/2011/02/24/personalbrain-as-a-management-tool/

That should provide a pretty good overview of how I use PersonalBrain. But here are a few other thoughts (pardon the pun):

Use fewer Brains. As I mentioned in the blog article, I’ve found that having just a single Brain for all my work related information works far better than having multiple Brains.

Think of Thoughts as hubs of information, rather than as the heading for notes (as would be the case in a two-pane outliner). The note editor is one type of information you can associate with a Thought, but you can also add web links, files, images (as Thought Icons), calendar items, and, of course, links to other Thoughts. I believe this is the real power of PB. It’s what makes it good at managing projects.

Use the search engine. One of the traps with PersonalBrain is that there are so many options for how to link and organize your information that it is easy to get carried away. I try not to over do the links for that reason. One of the strong features of the application, which isn’t so obvious, is that it has a very good search engine. So it is easy to find whatever information you have stored in a Brain.

Stay engaged with your information. PersonalBrain isn’t the kind of application where you can just dump information without consideration. (Unlike Zoot, which I like for that very reason.) You’ll need to stay engaged with PersonalBrain, trimming unnecessary Thoughts and links. I find this a good thing, but others may not.

Lean on other applications. When I need a table, for example, I don’t try to build one in the note editor (though I could). I attach a spreadsheet.

I hope this is of some use. There are others, Graham Rhind at least, who have more experience than I do, so I hope to hear from them as well.

Steve Z.