Ask HN: Where do you keep your ideas?

#1

Post by laurencer » Sun, Oct 28, 2012, 3:41 AM UTC

Where do you keep all of the ideas you come up with - and if you decide to work on an idea where do you keep everything related to it?

Right now I email everything to myself and have a GMail label, but I'm sure there are much better strategies out there. I'm keen to see how HNers keep there ideas (e.g. writing them in a moleskin, using Evernote, etc), and how they work on side-projects/ideas (e.g. if you decide to start researching one of your ideas where do you keep it all).

Re: Ask HN: Where do you keep your ideas?

#2

Post by lsiebert » Sun, Oct 28, 2012, 3:43 AM UTC

I use a combination of Google Docs and Springpad http://springpad.com/about

Re: Ask HN: Where do you keep your ideas?

#3

Post by dave1619 » Sun, Oct 28, 2012, 3:48 AM UTC

I currently use Apple Notes (iMac, iPad, iPhone using iCloud sync).

I've previously used Devonthink, personal wiki, Basecamp, Asana, GTD, and others.

Re: Ask HN: Where do you keep your ideas?

#4

Post by knockonthedoor » Sun, Oct 28, 2012, 3:50 AM UTC

I created a notebook called Projects in Evernote and I keep one note to all the ideas that I could summarize in a sentence. For more mature idea I create a separate note to keep all links and notes related to the project there.

Re: Ask HN: Where do you keep your ideas?

#5

Post by sentiental » Sun, Oct 28, 2012, 3:58 AM UTC

Fake tool: I write everything down on whatever paper is nearby, but the act of me doing that somehow tricks me into remembering it.

Actual tools: Evernote (on all my devices, plus the email address that I send them to), the iPhone reminder app, Google Tasks.

Re: Ask HN: Where do you keep your ideas?

#6

Post by timfrietas » Sun, Oct 28, 2012, 4:14 AM UTC

Honestly, and sadly, MS Word.

I have a template for startup ideas that is many questions long. It is still easiest to fire up that document and go, where everything is set up with well-laid formatting and bullet points. I am probably biased from many years spent in word processing programs coming from a writing heavy non-technical background originally, but that template gets everything out of the way for me so I can just write. Maybe eventually I'll write a Rails app for myself but I don't think I'd gain much over the current process except version control.

Nothing else works as well locally, which is a lot of the problem. Gmail is getting closer to being able to serve purpose as a general idea store for me, but I am not always online, and the migration cost at this point is not worth switching for, even if Gmail worked flawlessly offline.

Re: Ask HN: Where do you keep your ideas?

#7

Post by anigbrowl » Sun, Oct 28, 2012, 4:14 AM UTC

All my best ideas are on paper. I find a pencils far more effective than any digital tools for sketching out ideas.

Re: Ask HN: Where do you keep your ideas?

#8

Post by zengr » Sun, Oct 28, 2012, 4:18 AM UTC

timfrietas wrote: post #6

Honestly, and sadly, MS Word. I have a template for startup ideas that is many questions long. It is still easiest to fire up that document and go, where everything is set up with well-laid formatting and bullet points. I am probably biased from many years spent in word processing programs coming from a writing heavy non-technical background originally, but that template gets everything out of the way for me so I can…

"I have a template for startup ideas that is many questions long."

Just curious, can you share that?

Re: Ask HN: Where do you keep your ideas?

#9

Post by po » Sun, Oct 28, 2012, 4:34 AM UTC

anigbrowl wrote: post #7

All my best ideas are on paper. I find a pencils far more effective than any digital tools for sketching out ideas.

I agree. Paper is under-rated by geeks. I use a Muji A6 dotted paper notebook because the grid helps me draw boxes but is light enough to also let me ignore them when I feel like it. Some of them come with an elastic band on the cover to help keep it closed. The paper is cheap enough that I don't feel like the ideas have to be important to write down. I find that I am a bit reluctant to write in a super nice notebook.

http://www.muji.us/store/stationery/notebooks/pp-cover-doubl...

I keep a Frixion erasable pen hooked in the spiral part of the notebook.

http://www.pilotpen.us/Brands/FriXion.aspx

The only downside I have found is that if you freeze the notebook your erased writing will come back! I thought that the friction from rubbing destroys the ink, but it seems like it just transforms it into a new stable state. It's a really interesting fluid.

Re: Ask HN: Where do you keep your ideas?

#10

Post by zrail » Sun, Oct 28, 2012, 4:44 AM UTC

I literally wrote an entire app just for this exact use case.

https://www.marginalia.io

There's a REST api and an email API. You email ideas to a special address and it creates notes for you. You can append further refinements when it replies with a note-unique email address.

You can sort notes into projects, add tags, search, sort, and export to plain HTML or PDF.