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Using Personal Brain without making a huge mess
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Posted by Graham Rhind
Aug 2, 2011 at 07:00 AM
Just to reiterate my findings about Personal Brain from the other thread:
- Having a lot of thoughts does not have any significant effect on performance that I have noticed. I have a glossary, for example, with >6500 thoughts, without any noticeable slowing down.
- Where there is a limit is in the size of the notes within each thought. In one of my brains I have notes which may contain >30 graphic-heavy pages. Working with these, and saving them, grinds to a halt at a certain point. For those chapters I have to use the data as an attachment instead of putting it into a note.
and to add:
- The number of brains you use is dependent upon why you’re using Personal Brain. Unlike Stephen I find more brains better because I am using one brain per web resource being created. (An example is the free Data Quality glossary at http://www.dqglossary.com).
- As Stephen said, you can’t just dump information into the Brain. You need to have some idea of a structure before you start. But if your structure is not working for you it can be changed, and the search function is very strong. I have my customer database unstructured in The Brain because I can find what I’m looking for just using the search.
The main reasons why I use Personal Brain mainly for web sites and not for information management is that the Brain provides notes and links to other resources (such as spreadsheets and web pages) which need to be opened in their native programs to be viewed. I like to see everything at once, so I use OneNote where I can print everything into it and rarely need to add a link to an external resource. I have tried to use The Brain for other things, but I reached the point some years ago that I stopped looking for a one programme fits all and used many programs, each to its own strength.
That’s it, really!
Graham
Posted by Gary Carson
Aug 2, 2011 at 02:59 PM
Personally, I’ve never been able to find a use for Personal Brain. It slows to a crawl if you put a lot of text and images in the notes, so you can’t use it as a full-blown personal information manager, and it’s overkill for basic mind-mapping and brainstorming. I like the Brain interface a lot, but eventually mothballed the program when I realized that I was just using it to create huge webs of hyperlinks with brief attached notes. Basically, I was using it as a document and hyperlink management system, something I don’t really need. It’s more efficient to manage hyperlinks as bookmarks in your browser and use Windows Explorer (which is itself a document management system) to manage files. I do like the Brain, though. I just wish I could find a use for it.
Posted by Susanne
Aug 2, 2011 at 06:21 PM
Thanks to everyone who shared their ideas and tips, I have been trying out a few of these methods and am coming to agree that TheBrain is NOT the place to just dump information.
What I think it can do very well is to capture and manipulate ideas, snips, and “thoughts” very quickly. Something that I could definitely use at work - the only question is whether I am prepared to shell out that kind of money for the pro version on my own - sadly, I am leaning towards no. Because it’s cool is not a reason to spend 250$.
Because of the installation problems at work, great programs like Zoot and Surfulater and even MyBase are out of the question - so, I will probably stick with Evernote for dumping things and MyInfo for the (semi-)structured stuff.
@Quant: my beef with UR is not the .5 seconds it takes for the web capture, but the fact that one of the really cool things about UR is exactly the ability to view different kinds of information from within UR - so, when every mistaken click on a Text Item leads to the slow opening of word, then the message that the format is not recognized and I have to click “rtf” then it starts again to show me an empty page - we are no longer talking about .5 or even 1 second, but 5-10. Go through that 10 times a day and you will know what I mean.
And, also too, I LIKE crimping - hope springs eternal, a modern form of quests and all that
though in the end, I usually wind up with my steady group of Zoot, Evernote and MyInfo ;-)
Susanne
Posted by TonyJ
Aug 3, 2011 at 01:07 AM
Here’s a snippet from a thread on the Personal Brain forums (‘Types/Tags and Parent thoughts’ is the thread if anyone is interested):
“There are multiple uses for PB even though they are closely related:
managing information (obvious)
managing actions and projects
brainstorming and doing mindmaps and diagrams (actually covers almost all of my needs in this area)
The reason why I want to distinguish those uses is that I’ve found that it’s best to approach them differently.”
I think this is pretty perceptive. I own a copy which I have not put to much use as of yet. At first I was inclined to use it as a replacement file explorer and bookmark manager and it didn’t take long to see it wasn’t worth the effort. But I’ve been thinking about using it more for tying short notes together and more recently I’ve been considering using it to manage my personal and work, projects and actions. There’s a long GTD thread in thebrain forums. The last two pages are particularly good and anyone interested in using PB for task management would likely find them worthwhile.
Posted by Zman
Aug 3, 2011 at 04:01 AM
I always have PB running as I find it the most rapid way to capture information and put it into categorized places where I can find it later, I use it for short note taking on the fly, capturing web links, and the search function is truly outstanding. The thing about PB is that it takes some time and patience to understand - it is extremely powerful but much of the power is in search and select functions, reorienting the home node, and custom and expanded views. I think it could use more output format capabilities, and it would truly benefit from a capture tool like the TopicScape Box that allows you to put items (including MHT captures of web pages) into a holding box that you can later place into the Topicscape at leisure - PB requires you to preselect the node you want to dump things into. I love TopicScape 3D and it is more powerful than PB, but just can’t quite bond with it like I have with PB.