Ask HN: How do you keep track of your ideas?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1531948

by grep • 16 years ago

30 60 16 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

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?

drKarl• 16 years ago

I use my mobile, EverNote, GMail, whatever I have available to capture the idea.

run4yourlives4• 16 years ago

I don't, and neither should you. :-)

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.

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.

kaens4• 16 years ago

I agree that many ideas seem silly after they've sat for a bit, but I disagree that you shouldn't keep track of your ideas.

I get a lot of ideas. I keep track of them. If they fizzle, I remove them from the list.

I simply don't always have the time to jump on implementation of the ones I consider "good" when I have the idea. Also, keeping track of them means that I'll basically never have a point where I'm going "hmmm nothing to do, wish I had an idea!"

run4yourlives4• 16 years ago

I simply don't always have the time to jump on implementation of the ones I consider "good" when I have the idea.

An idea you can't execute is worth about as much to you as no idea at all. The concept of an idea being so timeless that it will be both relevant and somehow forgotten in the future if not recorded is not one I accept.

Either your idea is so great that you'll a)make time for it or b) remember it in the future, or it probably isn't as wonderful as you initially thought after all.

hmmm nothing to do, wish I had an idea!

A person who generates so many ideas that he's considering recording them won't find themselves in this position: You'll always have more ideas than time to implement them, so don't sweat it.

Not recording ideas is both a way of validating them and focusing your mind on implementation. "Idea people" like us can easily lose ourselves in the mental masturbation that is the generation of "ideas". The last thing we should be doing is encouraging staying in that stage longer than we have to.

trustfundbaby3• 16 years ago

The faintest ink is better than the best memory --- Chinese saying (allegedly)

bpourriahi3• 16 years ago

I agree with the complete opposite of this.

phpnode• 16 years ago

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.

uptown• 16 years ago

I do the exact same thing.

For ideas that reach the "tinker" stage, I create a folder into which I have "designs", "html", and "notes" subfolders.

samdk• 16 years ago

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.

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.

tansey• 16 years ago

I do the same thing, but with one caveat. I have a subject prefix for different categories of ideas. Every idea email thread starts with "X idea:", where X is "Site", "Research", etc.

kaens4• 16 years ago

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 ;)

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~charles57/GTD/orgmode.html <-- article on using org-mode for GTD.

grep• 16 years ago

Sometimes I find myself thinking about the same idea I had in the past because I don't remember why it was a "bad" idea.

nudge• 16 years ago

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.

klous2• 16 years ago

Google Docs spreadsheet, with the following column headers:

Idea/Elevator Pitch, Value Proposition, Target Market, Unique Selling Proposition, Revenue Model, Exit Strategy, Barriers To Entry, Competitors, Startup Costs

byoung2• 16 years ago

You're not afraid that Google will steal your ideas? ;-)

klous2• 16 years ago

alternate: Dropbox stored spreadsheet with a strong password protected file. :-)

cpr• 16 years ago

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.)

I've tried a lot of other schemes, but this still seems like the best method for collecting and organizing my thoughts.

Random_Person• 16 years ago

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...

It's batteries never run down.

It's memory never becomes corrupt.

I don't have to transfer the information when I perform a system upgrade.

I have access to it while in remote locations (hunting/fishing/hiking-- I have a lot of ideas in the middle of nowhere.)

It has a .5 second boot time and auto-loads notepad.

I'm very rarely without my cargo pants/shorts.

damoncali• 16 years ago

I don't. Anything good will stick around all by itself.

GBKS• 16 years ago

Any text editor will do, main thing is that it's super quick to write things down. GTD-stuff is overkill for me.

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.

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.

terryjsmith• 16 years ago

Shameless plug: http://scribld.in/

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.

aspiringsensei• 16 years ago

I would use the heck out of your site if I could text ideas into it somehow (via twitter?).

Also if it recorded metadata about my location, that'd be pretty neat. (how many seconds/word I was writing, what the weather was like, astrological stuff, etc.)

The only ways I can think of making my journal.txt file better are text integration and useless metadata...because I really do want to know if I write more while Aquarius is prominent.

kmort• 16 years ago

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. sigh Just got to find some time...

dthakur• 16 years ago

OneNote + DropBox.

Setsuna• 16 years ago

For the minimalists out there:

text files + dropbox

hachiya• 16 years ago

A hierarchical notes manager is great for this. My favorite is Zim Wiki.

Zim Wiki - http://zim-wiki.org

rudenoise• 16 years ago

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?

atlei• 16 years ago

Shameless plug: http://www.ppcsoft.com/iknow.asp

Before this I used plain text files as many others.

chaosprophet• 16 years ago

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.

Whenever I have some time to hack away on personal projects, I just flip through the notebook, choose an idea and go with it.

krisneuharth• 16 years ago

This has worked out well for me as well but mine has grid ruled pages for sketching out UI ideas and diagrams.

spython• 16 years ago

Notational Velocity - http://notational.net, 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.

atomical• 16 years ago

Most of the general ideas I will forget, but I take the ideas I am really interested in and store them in google docs in a bullet list.

watmough• 16 years ago

For something new, I create a project in Omnifocus on my iPhone, then describe it.

For an existing idea, new items get added as tasks on the project.

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.

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)

HeyLaughingBoy• 16 years ago

I don't bother. They're like buses: if I miss one, another will be along in a few minutes.

lkozma• 16 years ago

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 .

kgosser• 16 years ago

Evernote.

simonsez• 16 years ago

I'm curious how you use Evernote to keep it effective. I use Evernote as well to keep track of ideas, but I find as I start to fill out the ideas with research and notes the "parent" section - the list of ideas - becomes overwhelmed.

I ended up moving to a Google Apps Spreadsheet for a list of ideas, and then fill out info on each idea in Evernote, but would love to hear about better methods...

trustfundbaby3• 16 years ago

I use a bulleted list first, add sub bullets as ideas come, and when I'm ready to work on it, I make it into a full blown note with all my details in it.

AmberShah• 16 years ago

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.

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.

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.

zachwaugh• 16 years ago

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.

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.

scrod• 16 years ago

People who want to try this should see the FAQ about problems using note-level syncing with file-level syncing:

http://wiki.github.com/scrod/nv/faq-synchronization

sendos• 16 years ago

I have an Excel spreadsheet with various columns: rank, title, description, has-been-done, scope, etc

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.

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).

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.

carbocation• 16 years ago

Google docs. I keep a list of one-line ideas in a document. When those ideas grow, they get their own document.

I appreciate Google docs because it's easy to share my ideas with my collaborators by dropping docs into shared folders.

samratjp• 16 years ago

Freemind (http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) is awesome. It helps me see patterns and sometimes combine ideas # 132 + 245 together.

dooshydoo• 16 years ago

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.

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.

Always write it down. Circling ideas are an omen you're mastering the science but not the art.

Lewisham• 16 years ago

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 http://blog.rememberthemilk.com/2008/05/guest-post-advanced-... , you can get something that works pretty awesomely.

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.

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!

amohr• 16 years ago

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(http://mohrslaws.com/Lifein3x5), 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. (http://tweetphoto.com/12387364) - This is also the format I use for my business cards.

If I ever find myself wanting for something to do or ponder, I just go to the to-do pile and browse.

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.

jscore• 16 years ago

Evernote as well.

I have a notebook about possible projects. There, every page gets its own ideas.

mkuhn• 16 years ago

I love GTD for all thing I need to get done but ideas IMHO don't really fit that "mantra".

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.

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.

trustfundbaby3• 16 years ago

Evernote. In a bulleted list, with sub bullets if necessary or as inspiration comes so I can fill out the idea.

brm• 16 years ago

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

mikecarlucci• 16 years ago

That's actually a pretty good idea. Chronological and everything. I may steal it :)

JeremyHerrman• 16 years ago

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.

bpourriahi3• 16 years ago

ActionOutline

bpourriahi3• 16 years ago

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.

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.

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.

Ask HN: How do you keep track of your ideas?

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