Are we, outliners fans, just a bunch of outlined mind maniacs?

Posted by Stephen Zeoli
May 8, 2013 at 08:12 PM

What I’m about to write is blindingly obvious, but for some reason had never bubbled up into my awareness until something in Alexander’s post triggered it, which is this:

The difference between an outline that has been hand-written or typed and an outline created in outlining software is the difference between having a picture of a hammer and having an actual hammer for getting work done. A hand-written outline, like the kind we created in school long ago, is a relic the minute you put pencil to paper. You can’t change it—not without starting over—so it only represents what it was at the moment you finished it, not what might be. (And, yes, you can erase, and cross out, write small for inserting and use arrows to show where a new idea fits, but then you’re losing the one thing a static outline is really good for, and that is clarity.)

An outline created in even the most crude outlining software is dynamic. At least if you want it to be. You can promote and demote until you are content. Need to add sub-topics to an item, no problem. Try doing that with a hand-written outline. Grow it, collapse it. Focus in on one branch (okay, you’re getting beyond the capability of a simple outliner now).

Anyway, it is no wonder we held outlining in contempt before software made it an ongoing process in which we could become genuinely engaged.

Steve Z.