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Reducing my PIM/Knowledge/Writing Tools
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Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Apr 5, 2007 at 05:19 PM
Bob Mackreth wrote:
>Sounds just like my Kaypro 2 !
>
Yes, the Compaq was very similar to the Kaypro, but it used the DOS system.
Steve Z.
Posted by Chris Murtland
Apr 6, 2007 at 04:33 AM
Ike Washington wrote:
>Better to hunker down for the long haul: make sure it’s
>easy to export data out into html/plain text; use a heavy-duty local search app; think
>of apps as modules forming a larger knowledge system; be prepared to change aspects of
>this knowledge system pretty regularly.
Ike, I have been moving toward this way of thinking as well. However, it seems to take more discipline to eschew the all-in-one approach and build a system from multiple parts. There are decisions to be made about which data should go in which apps, and you lose some benefits of having everything in one place. On the flip side, trying to manage a monolithic database of everything ends up getting unwieldy.
I like Zoot’s approach of having multiple databases and being able to bring things in and out of focus by switching databases while still retaining global search. But then that’s where the cycle begins again: “hey, I can do everything in Zoot.” Then I start cycling through apps again, thinking I can do everything in each of them and then being drawn back to some features of each that the others don’t have.
I have even considered just running all of my favorite info managers at once… But that doesn’t seem very logical.
In any case, it would be nice to have a rational approach to all of this - something that makes sense but can also evolve over time. I’m also feeling a greater need to bring small things into focus without a lot of distraction, but still having easy access to all of the other details when needed. Perhaps software isn’t the problem at all; perhaps it is just a matter of work habits…
Chris
Posted by Ike Washington
Apr 10, 2007 at 10:20 AM
Chris Murtland wrote:
>>it seems to take more discipline to eschew the all-in-one approach and build a system from multiple parts. There are decisions to be made about which data should go in which apps, and you lose some benefits of having everything in one place.
Not so much a case of discipline in my case, more a matter of trial and error over time—via offices, greater reliance on computers and the internet, grad school, work as a freelancer. A fairly complex system evolved.
I’ve tried the all-in-one approach several times and each time have run into problems. At the same time, some apps have survived; I’ve used them for particular purposes. And, hey presto, a flexible, scalable, adaptable, quite good knowledge system.
I use a launcher to remind me which apps I should use in which order to get something done. I tend to have a pragmatic approach to this often finding that on some projects I’ll start off in one app, in others in another.
The most important aspect of the way I manage my information is that everything *is* in one place. All my data, as much as possible, gets exported to folders which get indexed by dt search.
Chris Murtland also wrote:
>> I like Zoot’s approach of having multiple databases and being able to bring things in and out of focus by switching databases while still retaining global search.
I think, actually, that I’ve created something a bit like Zoot. The whole of my computer is a database; the search facility comes via dt search; it allows me to zoom into a particular aspect of my work; this is helped by keywords in the data and by appropriate file names and folder names; launchers - slickrun, hot keyboard - act as a GUI.
Chris Murtland wrote:
>>Perhaps software isn’t the problem at all; perhaps it is just a matter of work habits…
Yes, I agree with this. Not so much habits, though. Despite what I’ve said earlier, that PIM is an evolving task, I do feel that I’m coming to the end of my CRIMP and GTD mania, that I’ll be concentrating on re-evaluating basic work skills from now on. Learning how to think and write again…
Ike