Brainstorming tools

Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Dec 20, 2021 at 10:27 PM

It is clear that you (and myself too) are not alone in preferring pen and paper for ideas work, as evidenced by this post on the reMarkable blog:
https://blog.remarkable.com/the-superiority-of-pen-and-paper-72dd16981b32

That said, I find software very helpful for structuring and presenting ideas. It should also be noted that several software programmes include (or are built around) methods which may help one at various stages of idea development.

Some users in this forum will still remember Neil Larson’s Maxthink. This included, as a sample file, 55 questions to support “superior thinking”, including ideas development. I’ve found these questions extremely helpful on various occasions.

steveylang wrote:
>> >nothing beats the appeal of a freshly
>> >sharpened pencil and blank page for thinking through an idea.
>>

>I’m glad you brought up my post! I think pencil and paper (or whiteboard
>and markers in a group setting) work so well for 2 different reasons.
> >The first is that they require absolutely zero thought or attention to
>use, such that your focus can almost always be 100% on your ideas
>(whether its brainstorming, gathering thoughts, developing ideas, etc.)
> > [...]
> >The second reason has to do with the advantage of working with
>information in a spatial orientation. Generally our brains are oriented
>towards this, and for me jotting down ideas in a sort of map/diagram
>just feels much better than doing it in a outline or list. It’s not just
>for brainstorming, any time I’m trying to get a ‘sense’ of things I like
>arranging my thoughts/ideas in a 2-dimensional space (of course YMMV.)