We're all on this forum because we share a passion for outlining and PIM software but I'm curious, what kind of work does everyone here do that requires this software?

Myself, among other things, I'm a freelance journalist/blogger.

Well, before retiring I was really a work-a-holic Analytic Problem Solver, but had many titles: Professor, Operations Research Analyst, Mathematician, Statistician, Benefit Analyst, ....

Now that I am retired, I am a bum. Bum is better.

quant :)

I've been in marketing communications for almost 30 years, and currently work for a small, nonprofit publisher. Copywriting has always been a big part of my job, but so has project management.

I do some of this kind of work with my volunteer time with a local history organization.

In addition, I do a bit of freelance writing, and I'm currently working on a short book of local history.

Steve

I'm a trophy wife. In my (considerable) free time, I try to grok the universe. So I gather information; my problem is trying to compile it. OutlinerSoftware is about struggles with compliling.

My other problem is: the universe is expanding.

Truly lovely to know what others of you do. Cheers to you all!

I'm a systems administrator for a number of the larger labs at the largest network hardware manufacturer. Auditing classes at a graduate theological seminary has become my current hobby. I love research and learning anything really.

I'm on the staff of the VP Engineering & Technology for a major aerospace company. I've got to keep straight the details, status, etc., on dozens of activities that are in progress at any given time, and keep people focused and moving forward. Boredom is not a problem.

I'm a college professor (School of Business), a textbook author for McGraw-Hill Higher Education, and an e-learning/instructional design consultant. In my spare time, I'm a PhD candidate at Purdue University, working (albeit slowly) on my dissertation. My favorite software tools are ConnectedText, PersonalBrain, Evernote, MyNotesKeeper, and Biblioscape.

My day job: MD, working as an Occupational Physician.
At nights: fiction writer.

Used to be a software developer. Now a lawyer.

Mostly I like outliner software just because I do. Ever since personal computers have existed, I have been collecting software just for the heck of it. (Really, as a kid I had a PET, a TRS80, a Commodore II, etc.)

As a developer, I was really involved in thinking about information management for users and under the hood. I developed software for consumers that fits in the information management category but did not compete with outliners. Professionally, I used pims and notetakers to keep track of all my notes about my employees and projects; MS project for project management; databases for bug tracking; and ever since it has existed, outlook for calendar and contacts.

As a law student, I was totally dependent on ADM, after first trying all the other outliners available.

As a lawyer, I use notetakers and outliners to keep track of everything anybody tells me by phone or in person and to gather and categorize snippets of cases, evidence, and briefs for future reference. I would love to have a writing outliner that works for me to draft memos and briefs, but nothing clicks for me so I just use Word. Still outlook for email, schedule, and contacts.

Mostly, though, I still like to play with software and hardware just because I do.

I'm a prostitute.

Tom S.

My brother has told me for years that I am a retired person. But I don't know about that ...
Manfred

Tom S. wrote:

I'm a prostitute.

Tom S.

Hmmm...I can see the need for task management solutions.

I'm a professor of religion at a state university. I tend to lurk hoping for the ideal outliner.

"My name is Lucas, and I am an outliner..."

Actually I'm just a grad student. My interest in outlining encompasses three general areas: idea organization, task management, and writing. (On rare occasions my interest in outlining is also fueled by procrastination, but that's another story...)

It's great to download advice from all you pros.

Lucas

Hi.

I work as a freelance creator (newspaper and online articles, non-fiction books, translations, concepts), coach and trainer.
In my spare time I write short stories and a novel.

Franz

I'm an editor and former reporter for a mid-size newspaper. I also do Web programming and database work for stories and projects.

I'm a manager in local government. Consequently I tend to be interested in report writing and personal productivity solutions including email contexts. I also have a focus on task management and project management apps such as mind mappers.

Jack

I'm an music educator/principal and I also pastor a church.I too lurk hereabouts gathering as much information I can in my search for the perfect outliner and information manager. Because of the tips and recommendations I'm using PersonalBrain, NoteMap and Mindmanager in creating and keeping my (PreK-Sixth grades) music curriculum aligned and functional as well as organize and write sermons. gB

Cady wrote:

Tom S. wrote:
>I'm a prostitute.
>
>Tom S.

Hmmm...I can see the need for task
management solutions.

:)

Perhaps I was joking...

perhaps. :)

Tom S.

Software designer -- I created Opal. Which I use to keep track of all my projects.

I'm a lurker on this forum and a retired professor, with a particular interest in the history of the book. For my research and writing, I use MyInfo, Evernote, and NoteTab.

shatteredmindofbob wrote:

We're all on this forum because we share a passion for outlining and PIM software but
I'm curious, what kind of work does everyone here do that requires this software?

When I'm not lurking on this forum, I'm a freelance copy-editor, writer and theologian. For my sins, I've also become a kind of clearing house for information about Blackwell/Bekon Idealist, a venerable free-form text oriented database.

Lawrence

Bob, this is one of the most interesting threads I have come across in this forum which I have avidly followed for many years!

I'm a consultant and project manager working on environment and business. My interest on information management software started on the personal level (groking the universe as Ms Julie calls it) but soon became professional: tools like Brainstorm and UltraRecall have given me a significant competitive advantage when trying to organise large amounts of data in a relatively short time. There have been projects I simply could not have undertaken without such tools.

I tend to work best with more 'classic' text-oriented tools, my newest interests being TreeSheets and InfoQube. I usually turn to mind-mappers, Personal Brain and the like only for presenting information to others.

The last couple of years I completed an online MBA; software like Surfulater proved once again invaluable. That said, I have spent so much time playing around with such software that I sometimes wonder about the net result.

Being a sort of nomad at work and also running a company with my business partner, my greatest challenges have been:
(a) combining tools in my PC with web-based offerings and (b) sharing my working tools with others in the team who only knew of spreadsheets and word processors.

Anybody wanting to liaise with me (I have already been in contact with a few in this list) can now find me on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.

Lawrence Osborn wrote:

For my sins, I've also become a kind of clearing
house for information about Blackwell/Bekon Idealist, a venerable free-form text
oriented database.

Funny you should say that; my first contact with free-form databases was in the early '90s with Idealist. At the time, Greek was my main working language and Idealist couldn't handle it. Even today, with multilingual operating systems, I am surprised that several programs remain english-oriented and may even have trouble with accented latin characters.

I am a hack - initially in newspapers, then television, then in management consultancy and management, and latterly in books. Two or three years ago I more or less abandoned the PC for the Mac, having lusted after one or two tools that seemed better designed for the kind of writing I do than those I could find on Windows.

I first used outlines intensively when required to write and re-write long scripts about changing topics to tight deadlines. Even with a golf-ball typewriter, scissors and glue, you couldn't re-cast a script fast enough. But you could re-cast an outline, and you could also clarify for yourself and others precisely what you meant. Yet as someone (Voltaire?) observed, writing short requires a lot more mental effort than writing long. I learnt a few techniques then about packing the maximum meaning into the minimum outline that I still use today and that make the digital outliners now available all the more valuable to me.