A non-linear approach to note-taking

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1/ There are many 'well-acronymed' frameworks for how we interact with TfTs/note-taking systems. Ultimately the activities boil down to one of four things: Input, Retrieval, Organising, or Output Reducing the latency between these activities is crucial for unlocking digital joy

2/ How do these four areas apply to writing and task management? Input: Capturing or creating Retrieval: Searching or organic re-rediscovery Organising: Structuring, managing, editing or processing Output: Publishing or completing

3/ One oversight is that they are usually expressed linearly, whereas the interplay tends to be non-linear. Writing on a particular topic? Pull-up reference notes/prompting questions. See something out of place? Re-arrange it. Remember some task/todo? Quickly jot it down.

4/ This is not an endorsement of multi-tasking: I'm all for separating 'maker' vs 'manager' time & reducing context switching. However, applied thinking is dynamic & cannot be reduced to 2-dimensions. Reducing the friction between the different activities is instead necessary.

5/ Organisation is often the chief stumbling block for input and retrieval: "where do I put this?" and "where do I find that again?" Networked outliners like @Logseq and @RoamResearch (& sort of @obsdmd with plugins🤔) allow us to side-step the upfront organisational burden.

6/ How do they do it? - Daily journal page for frictionless input (that can be organised later) - Organisation through indenting and backlinks (even in the middle of a brain dump!) - Referencing at both the block and page-level. - Multiple areas to retrieve your notes.

7/ I'm all for left to right frameworks (particularly diagrams!), but finding the flow between these activities has been transformative for me, so much so that I think I'm going to come up with my own acronym. Let's give it a go: IROrIOuRIOuROrOuIROuIOr Darn it, butchered it 🙈