Reducing my PIM/Knowledge/Writing Tools

Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Apr 3, 2007 at 08:13 AM

Jack Crawford wrote:
>I’m much less satisfied with my writing environment. I need business rather
>than academic functionality so I use a mixture of project management tools and the
>Notemap/Word combo for longer documents. I’d like to use Brainstorm but really need
>an editable overview, as well as some basic formatting.

Our needs are quite similar, with the exception of formatting, but I’ve managed to get along with Brainstorm; I admit that for me it’s quite an emotional issue: the plain text interface helps me focus (I haven’t been as productive since using WordPerfect 5 for DOS) while the ability to Throw copies of ideas elsewhere while writing, to consider later, helps me maintain the momentum.

After reading so much about Whiz Folders as a writing environment I’ve been tempted to try it out. However, it’s a whole new different approach and I’ll probably restrain from it for the moment.

The months away from non-professional internet use helped me curb my CRIMP habits. They also helped me realise a key issue in my long search for the holy PIM grail, namely that one’s consistent use of a tool makes that tool ever more useful. Knowledge workers are the modern equivalent of craftsmen and as craftsmen we need to invest time in becoming skilled in our tools.

This doesn’t mean that the right choice of tool doesn’t impact productivity, nor that one shouldn’t include issues such as company longevity in their criteria. But as any Zoot user seems to assert, the more you use it, the better it becomes.

alx