Cyborganize launched - the ultimate outliner productivity system

Posted by MadaboutDana
Jul 19, 2011 at 02:00 PM

Hi there, JB,

At first I thought Graham was being a little rough on you, but having visited the website: phew! What a load of, well, “interesting” claims! Apart from anything else, I don’t like enthusiastic jargon which isn’t immediately defined (or linked to a definition): what on earth do you mean by “lossless” and “frictionless” - and where do I find out? If you think I’m going to wade through reams of web pages just to find out, you’re sadly mistaken! So link those two to something resembling a definition for starters. Second, the phrase “Don’t be Overwhelmed” is unfortunately ambiguous: do you mean “don’t be overwhelmed by the volumes of data/info you’re having to process every day” or (and this is the meaning which suggests itself due to the juxtaposition of other elements like “fastest way to start using”, “workflow” etc.) do you mean “Don’t be Overwhelmed by Cyberorganize? For me as an info junkie, that’s an immediate turn-off. As Graham and others have remarked elsewhere on this forum, an info management system that has a steep learning curve is - more or less axiomatically - a poorly designed one. And yet everything on your introductory page suggests that Cyberorganize is complex and requires first, that users should understand a number of basic premises (your particular take on left-brain/right-brain interaction) and second, that they should make those premises the basis for managing their information. Not what I would call intuitive! Finally, the lack of clarity as far as the modular structure is concerned (I mean: BrainStormWFO - WTF?) does not encourage further exploration, especially since it takes quite a while to find any actual essential details in the explanatory pages. The graphic is pretty, but essentially useless.

I don’t mean to sound negative - but appreciate that I do. It could be absolutely amazing! But when you develop a system that promises to help people to clarify their own thoughts (in a lossless, frictionless way!), it is vital that your own exposition should be as clear, limpid and frictionless as possible. At present your website is merely confusing and discourages in-depth exploration. Sort that out, and you could have something that’s genuinely worthwhile. I look forward to exploring it (eventually).

Best regards,
Bill