How do you manage your pipeline beyond collecting ideas?
I used to simply have an idea notebook. Writing down ideas was a monolithic activity in my head, encompassing everything from capturing the initial thought to developing it further and communicating it. I now think of those as three very different stages.
Capturing ideas: having appropriate places to write down thoughts as short memory aids, maybe a few words or a sentence or two.
Developing ideas: explaining the idea to myself in text. This allows me to take the seed of an idea and try different ways of fleshing out details, refine it, maybe turn it into something different.
Communicating: explaining it such that other people can understand it. This forces the idea to be given much more detail, often uncovering additional problems. So, I get another revision of the idea out of this (even if no one reads the writeup).
My pipeline definitely doesn’t always work, though. In particular, capturing an idea does not guarantee that I will later develop it. I find that even if I capture an idea, I’ll drop it by default if it isn’t collected with a set of related ideas which are part of an ongoing thought process. This is somewhat tricky to accomplish.
My pipeline is weaker in the later stages. I often spend some time developing ideas right after capturing them, or develop ideas if I randomly start having thoughts related to some idea I already captured. But communication currently takes what feels like too long, maybe because I am perfectionistic about ensuring that any given essay contains all the ideas in my notebook that logically seem like they belong in that essay. I would probably write more if my pipeline was better. Hoping to do some dedicated work improving it at some point.
I find that even if I capture an idea, I’ll drop it by default if it isn’t collected with a set of related ideas which are part of an ongoing thought process. This is somewhat tricky to accomplish.
Whenever I have an idea, I try to ask myself what future situation the idea might be useful in. Then I either find a page I already have for that situation or create one if it doesn’t already exist. Not sure if that’s helpful.
How do you manage your pipeline beyond collecting ideas?
I used to simply have an idea notebook. Writing down ideas was a monolithic activity in my head, encompassing everything from capturing the initial thought to developing it further and communicating it. I now think of those as three very different stages.
Capturing ideas: having appropriate places to write down thoughts as short memory aids, maybe a few words or a sentence or two.
Developing ideas: explaining the idea to myself in text. This allows me to take the seed of an idea and try different ways of fleshing out details, refine it, maybe turn it into something different.
Communicating: explaining it such that other people can understand it. This forces the idea to be given much more detail, often uncovering additional problems. So, I get another revision of the idea out of this (even if no one reads the writeup).
My pipeline definitely doesn’t always work, though. In particular, capturing an idea does not guarantee that I will later develop it. I find that even if I capture an idea, I’ll drop it by default if it isn’t collected with a set of related ideas which are part of an ongoing thought process. This is somewhat tricky to accomplish.
My pipeline is weaker in the later stages. I often spend some time developing ideas right after capturing them, or develop ideas if I randomly start having thoughts related to some idea I already captured. But communication currently takes what feels like too long, maybe because I am perfectionistic about ensuring that any given essay contains all the ideas in my notebook that logically seem like they belong in that essay. I would probably write more if my pipeline was better. Hoping to do some dedicated work improving it at some point.
Whenever I have an idea, I try to ask myself what future situation the idea might be useful in. Then I either find a page I already have for that situation or create one if it doesn’t already exist. Not sure if that’s helpful.