My Usage of PersonalBrain - Or how I manged to got (almost) cured from CRIMPING

Posted by Dominik Holenstein
Feb 27, 2012 at 07:25 AM

Hi Daly,

I am referring to your post in this thread:
http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/3805/10

Yes, I have been a PersonalBrain user for 13 years now with a break between 2001 and 2006 when the developer of PB stopped the further development of the personal edition. But luckily, they released v4 around 2005 or 2006 and continued to deliver a strong user support and continuous development by listening to the users.

These are the main reasons why I switched back to TheBrain (the new (old) name in v7) from ADM (sniff….) and Ultra Recall (a great tool, too):
- My visual thinking. Hierarchical structures are annoying me
- Open architecture: I don’t have to think much about structure in TheBrain. I just add childs and jumps where I think it fits
- Continuous support and communication with the users even you are not a multi-billion business. When you write to their support you get a reply
- Continuous development
- Availability and compatibility on Windows and on OSX
- Sync with the web, possibility to make brain accessible online and you can even make smaller changes online
- The metadata system (types, tags and new in v7: You can name links, define the direction and add notes to links)
- Integrated calendar and reminders
- The instant search field. Here you can find any thought you have added to your brain even you can’t remember the complete name
- Possibility to link to files, folders and websites

My system is pretty simple. It is a mix of a very simple GTD and my own experiences. First insight: I need two different status levels only. These are “Open” and “Closed”. That’s it. Further, don’t use the metadata system heavily just because I am too lazy to update all this stuff again and again.

What I do: I add tasks or projects as thoughts below the thought “Take action this Week”. Then I add the associated contacts as a jump to the task-thought. Then I link all necessary files to the task-thought, copy the title of the task-thought to the text editor where I keep a log of what I have done, what needs to be done or to create a sub-task list.

When a task/project is closed I link it with the thought “Closed” and unlink it from “Take action this Week”.

To plan the whole stuff, I have a thought named “Plan of Attack”. Here I add the tasks/projects to the text editor below just simple text titles:
- Now: What I am working on now
- Today: What I plan to do today
- Later: What I will to tomorrow or later
- Waiting: Where I am waiting for somebody else to do something for me
- Done: What has been done so far and when

The tasks/projects listed in this thought are mostly direct links to the corresponding thoughts. So I can quickly jump to the required thought and have all necessary files at my fingertips. Further, the “Plan of Attach” thought is very useful when I have my weekly projects updates with my boss. I just print it and take it into the meeting and I have the current status of my work in front of me. Because I am updating this thought on a daily basis, I know it my heart and don’t have to think a lot about what I have to say.

This is a rather rough overview. I you want to know more please don’t hesitate and ask.

All the best,
Dominik