Sometimes I have a bunch of ideas that I often forget. How do you keep track of all your ideas? I was thinking that I may be able to use the GTD system for ideas, any suggestion?
I have a 20-year-old, 37K-line todo.txt file (edited in Emacs) of all ideas I've ever had over those two decades, plus notes & some contact info. (And most of the actual to-do items are deleted when I finish them, so it's actually contained a lot more info over the that time.)<p>I've tried a lot of other schemes, but this still seems like the best method for collecting and organizing my thoughts.
I don't, and neither should you. :-)<p>If an idea is worth pursuing, it reoccurs in several ways. For instance, with my current project I can have a casual conversation with someone around a pain point and instantly see how my idea could help.<p>Many of my ideas seem brilliant when I first have them, but then fizzle the more I think about them. Even if they are wonderful and viable, your motivation to build them out is also a factor.
I keep a smallish (3x5"?) leather-bound mead journal (the ones with graph paper) in my cargo pants and a Pilot G-2 gel pencil in my left pocket. Everything goes in said journal. Ideas, information, sketches, IP information of the schools I work in...<p>It's batteries never run down.<p>It's memory never becomes corrupt.<p>I don't have to transfer the information when I perform a system upgrade.<p>I have access to it while in remote locations (hunting/fishing/hiking-- I have a lot of ideas in the middle of nowhere.)<p>It has a .5 second boot time and auto-loads notepad.<p>I'm very rarely without my cargo pants/shorts.
I have a really long list of business ideas in a .txt file 99.9% of which I'll never get round to implementing. An idea worth doing will stick in your head and eat away at you til you've accomplished it, a poor idea, not so much.
I use Gmail. I have an email thread going (sent to myself) that's I reply to every time I have a project idea. It's pretty rare that I'm thinking about project ideas and also not anywhere near a computer. And if I'm not, I just remember it for a few hours until I am or write it down on a sticky note in my wallet.<p>I should note that I very rarely actually go back and implement these ideas--I just used to have a thing where I'd want to do something and I'd have no idea what to do. I've become a lot better at generating ideas and so it's no longer really an issue, but I still like keeping them around. It's fun to see startup ideas I've thought about appear here on HN in the form of companies and realize I'd had the same idea a while ago.
Google Docs spreadsheet, with the following column headers:<p>Idea/Elevator Pitch, Value Proposition, Target Market, Unique Selling Proposition, Revenue Model, Exit Strategy, Barriers To Entry, Competitors, Startup Costs
I use the built-in notes feature on my iPhone. Before that it was a notepad text file on my desktop. The only reason the iPhone wins now just because I have it with me at all times.<p>Usually the act of typing it in is enough to get it embedded in my mind. Occasionally I go back through and read them and delete out the ones I don't care about anymore.<p>If I lost the whole thing, it wouldn't be a huge loss to me. I already know what's important and when you're mind is in the creative mode, inspiration is always striking. I would find a more "structured" approach to be limiting.
For something new, I create a project in Omnifocus on my iPhone, then describe it.<p>For an existing idea, new items get added as tasks on the project.<p>I bought Omnifocus right when the app store opened, along with Super Monkey Ball etc., but whilst all those other programs fell by the wayside, Omnifocus recently migrated to the 'shelf' and has stayed there.<p>If you own a Mac, you can share sync between iPhones, iPad by simply pointing Omnifocus at a webdav folder on the Mac (easy to create by using the built-in Apache 2.0)
Each idea is noted, some evolve into a long text file. The ones I really start to flesh-out get their own folder, and their multiple text files get C-tagged together with my own Vim format and tag system.<p>But I do want much more. Some of these notes become to-do items, reference items, fantasy user doc or rantings to myself. As they grow, they become different things.<p>I would love an "actionable" tag system. That is, an editor (web/wiki-based, I don't mind) that for each article I can drop certain smart tags onto. Drop a labelled Milestone tag on it and it becomes a to-do item. Drop a Due Date onto it as well, or perhaps a Dependency tag linked to another article and there's a mini-project manager.<p>If I don't feel as "projecty" right now with this set of notes I might just drop some regular tags on it. "OpenGL" or "Django" and now I'm collating notes across projects. A Parent/Child tag, just to give some articles some structure, if I want.<p>I've tried a lot of to-do apps and note-taking apps, but none of them quite seem to match how my brain just loves to note stuff down, but only organise how and when I want to. I've got a reasonably refined list of about a dozen such smart tags that I think would suit me well. <i>sigh</i> Just got to find some time...
I use notecards - I keep a stack of blanks in my bag. If they're not particularly actionable, they go up on my blog for such things(<a href="http://mohrslaws.com/Lifein3x5" rel="nofollow">http://mohrslaws.com/Lifein3x5</a>), otherwise, they go in the to-do pocket. If they don't fit in either, I fold them into an origami frog, draw a funny face on it and leave it by the wayside. (<a href="http://tweetphoto.com/12387364" rel="nofollow">http://tweetphoto.com/12387364</a>) - This is also the format I use for my business cards.<p>If I ever find myself wanting for something to do or ponder, I just go to the to-do pile and browse.<p>I like the physical aspect of this system. To me, the important thing here is getting the ideas the hell out of my head - it gets kinda crazy in there, it's no place for a delicate thing like an idea. Plus having a big, unsorted stack makes them more interesting to browse.
I'm surprised no-one put a shout out for Remember The Milk. It's not perfect, but once you go through the GTD in RTM tutorial at <a href="http://blog.rememberthemilk.com/2008/05/guest-post-advanced-gtd-with-remember-the-milk/" rel="nofollow">http://blog.rememberthemilk.com/2008/05/guest-post-advanced-...</a> , you can get something that works pretty awesomely.<p>I tend to write down ideas in the "someday" list, or in the project list if it's a project. It just won't get a due date, nor tagged with "next". Every week I try to go through the list, and remove ideas that I don't think are worth following up.<p>I also keep a research wiki where I dump links and ideas, but I haven't gone back there for a while. I think it's largely something useful to track back the genesis of an idea, and remember why you thought of it in the first place. I often remember the solutions to problems I have forgot!
I love GTD for all thing I need to get done but ideas IMHO don't really fit that "mantra".<p>I keep track of my ideas in a Moleskine Notebook. They are available in many formats and are able to whitstand almost anything. What I love about having a small "book" of ideas is that I can take them anywhere, scrible and brainstorm around my ideas etc. All this is possible without being restricted by a given format. Its also very easy to browse through ideas if you store them this way and I found it very easy to find ideas again once you remember you had some solution or approach to something.<p>If I by chance don't have my Moleskine with me I email myself the idea and as soon as I get home or start emptying my mailbox the idea gets transfered into the notebook.
Shameless plug: <a href="http://scribld.in/" rel="nofollow">http://scribld.in/</a><p>I have this problem as well, and built the site for my personal use then added a few features to open it up to others. Hope you find it useful! E-mail in profile if you have any feedback.
I have an Excel spreadsheet with various columns: rank, title, description, has-been-done, scope, etc<p>The rank is a number that I enter manually based on my estimate of how good the idea is. When I change that value for a given idea, the spreadsheet is set up to auto-sort the ideas.<p>For example: an idea may have been ranked 4th, but I find out some info that makes me think the idea is not worth pursuing that much, so I change the rank value and the spreadsheet immediately puts it in its right place (e.g. 35th).<p>The benefit is that ideas still stick around, but the ones that I find the most likely to succeed/worth pursuing are always listed at the top for me to see.
Ideas soak in your mind when written down.
You will be proud as hell looking back at the ideas you have. They reflect your highest level of thought from your current mentality, and are great indicators of your growth.<p>Without writing them down, you give them little power to thrive and iterate. Think about how great businesses are made, or how code is made.. It's all iterative.<p>Write down every idea... Just try it for a few weeks and see where it goes. Like I said before, I use ActionOutline, which is a terrific program for managing all of the 'words' in your life that isn't in code.
Any text editor will do, main thing is that it's super quick to write things down. GTD-stuff is overkill for me.<p>I found that keeping a list of ideas will clear my head to be open for new ideas. Otherwise my brain will use a lot of memory/CPU to keep the old ideas around.<p>Second thing I found useful is to expand on ideas when I have some time. I simply take one and write a whole document on it, detailing design, features, purpose, value, target market etc - anything I can think of. I keep revising those randomly. The good ideas stick and turn into documented project plans over time.
I keep everything in Notational Velocity stored in plain text files, which I keep in sync between multiple computers with Dropbox. It also syncs with SimpleNote so I can view/update it from my iPhone or iPad or from the web. Simple, and I can access it from anywhere.<p>Within the text file, I usually group ideas by type and mark it with a '*' if I implement it, and a 'X' if I decide it's not a good idea/it's already been done/I've lost interest in it. Has worked well for me.
I don't believe any idea is wholly worthless. Great ideas are on time, good ideas only feel late, and bad ideas are simply too early. For years I've kept two folders.<p>One I fill with concepts (if they can be called that) I plan to test, and the other is for those I think are too early. The good ideas have kept me afloat; the bad ideas however, have led to great things.<p>Always write it down. Circling ideas are an omen you're mastering the science but not the art.
I use an emacs org-mode file that is in my github repo of configuration files and other things that go on all the machines I use. Org mode has a bit of a learning curve, but it's powerful and flexible. That's another way of saying it's a mature emacs library ;)<p><a href="http://members.optusnet.com.au/~charles57/GTD/orgmode.html" rel="nofollow">http://members.optusnet.com.au/~charles57/GTD/orgmode.html</a> <-- article on using org-mode for GTD.
Text file. Write it down and move onto something useful. Don't waste time trying to find a better way to do this. GTD, in particular, is way too much for just this.
A hierarchical notes manager is great for this.
My favorite is Zim Wiki.<p>Zim Wiki - <a href="http://zim-wiki.org" rel="nofollow">http://zim-wiki.org</a>
I'm one of the few active users of Google Wave. I'm all about the tracking of history so I can see how an idea evolved. I used to use local text files, but I didn't like that they weren't available on the web and could easily be buried on my desktop/documents folder. Wave also has rich formatting and supports inline attachments. One caveat - you can't really export out of wave easily.
I have a bound notebook, which I call my ideas book. Whenever I get an idea, I write it on the notebook, one idea per page. The rest of the page goes for details like features, implementation ideas etc.<p>Whenever I have some time to hack away on personal projects, I just flip through the notebook, choose an idea and go with it.
Scattered all over the place... scraps of papers, text files, archived emails, notebooks, margins of books... Sometimes I try to go through them and pick something to work on, a few ideas which I don't want to pursue but don't see the obvious problem with them, I post at lkozma.net/ideas .
Notational Velocity - <a href="http://notational.net" rel="nofollow">http://notational.net</a>, mainly because it's very easy to add a note in a few seconds using only the keyboard.
I've tried a lot of note taking software, and this just stays out of your way. Also, it's open source.
I've liked the idea of a delicious style app for plain text notes, I'm working on an open source HTML5 app that stores tagged notes as JSON and can be saved in local storage which can be upload to a couchDB instance. I'll upload to gitHub if anyone is interested?
Freemind (<a href="http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page" rel="nofollow">http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page</a>) is awesome. It helps me see patterns and sometimes combine ideas # 132 + 245 together.
Google docs. I keep a list of one-line ideas in a document. When those ideas grow, they get their own document.<p>I appreciate Google docs because it's easy to share my ideas with my collaborators by dropping docs into shared folders.
Shameless plug: <a href="http://www.ppcsoft.com/iknow.asp" rel="nofollow">http://www.ppcsoft.com/iknow.asp</a><p>Before this I used plain text files as many others.
Email threads. Start an email with the subject heading of the idea. Add replies as it evolves. Use a gmail label to track them so they don't fill up your inbox