Hey Guys,
Small Intro : I am Sistla Abhishek, working on a product that I am sure will rock the World ( Every Business guy will tell you the same thing !! ). In this small post, I want to let you know how I do it.
Also, I want the RH Community to take an active part in the discussion and come up with something which all of us can use and improve our Productivity / Efficiency !
Being a Startup guy, ( You and ) I have a lot of ideas and we need to be able to actually store them somewhere. Let me list out whatever the hell I am talking about .. !
Applications / Methods to Store an Idea – Efficient or Not .. You let me know !
Image : Mindspower
1. Pen / Paper or NoteBook ( By far the best way to write or store an idea provided you don’t lose the book !)
- Can write and calculate everything in a single go.
- Ability to illustrate stuff – workflows, features, etc will all be really easy.
Image : quicksprout.com
2. Notes ( Applications – Evernote, iOS Notes, etc )
- Good to write long essays / stories
- Can note illustrate stuff, calculations and all are a pain using the soft keyboard.
Image : LifeHacker
3. Laptop or a Desktop ( Word, Calc, Powerpoint, Mock Ups, etc, etc )
- Lots to write in terms of points. Different Applications for Different Use cases.
Drawing stuff can’t be done easily with Word. Calculations can be managed but illustrating a workflow is a pain. - Things have become pretty portable both in terms of hardware and the internet so, if you lose a file .. its your mistake. #StayOrganized
Image : My Desktop When working on something ! –
Note : this is not an idea .. I just opened up a few windows to look like it !
It’ll be more than just FF, Chrome, Calc and SubLime Text !
4. I’ve been talking a lot about Illustrating Stuff but .. I did not ever try a tool like GIMP or Photoshop and .. I am sure in a way ( atleast for me ) that its … umm … bad.
Image : GIMP-Brainstorm.blogspot.com
5. Audio Recorder ( Application – On your phone )
- This is the next best alternative that I use apart from a NoteBook ( Pen / Paper ). Its a digital file .. Has audio .. and I can explain stuff in a way I understand.
- Again, No Illustrations
- Also, when I listen to it like .. after a month or so .. I don’t understand a part of what I am talking about because, there was a context set when I recorded the idea.
I did not care to explain every detail. So basically, while recording you should make sure that, you have the same context set.
Image : svnlabs.com
6. Make a Video of Myself Talking about the Idea .. ( Hilarious, No way ! – Works in Company Meetings though )
- I once tried this with my iPad and .. I found the video to be hilarious. I since then started working on my pitching skills !
- This works when you have everything defined. Like charts and illustrations. You make a PPT and Store the idea in a Video which you can watch and analyze sometime later.
Image : This just seemed funny 😛 – digitalinformationworld
More than an idea which can be added to your notes, I am looking to store Thought Processes ( and Context for that matter ).
A few questions from my side.
- How do the Startup Product guys / founders do it ?
- How do the guys in the Gaming Business do it ?
- After storing an idea, I don’t want to convert the same into a product management workflow.
For that, I need to think of an idea just like I’d fill a Board on Trello. I dont want that to happen ( An Idea / a thought should be free to flow without any constraints )
Do let me ( & everybody here ) know your thoughts and solutions. All of us will definitely benefit out of this 🙂
Better Ideas + Proper Execution = = Great Products / Companies