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
Smit Ganatra
I am overly comfortable with just jotting them down in a notepad(Yes,not MS word)
I guess there is no single way that would please all. ‘To each of his own’
Sistla Venkata Abhishek
Yeah Smit Ganatra … I too use SublimeText to note them all down quickly. Try using SubLime for while .. You’ll definitely like its speed 🙂 🙂
Smit Ganatra
sure! does look good! added to the downloads. Thanks!
Omkar Nisal
Along with your favorite physical archiving techniques for your ideas , I encourage you to try a non physical archive for your ideas — since ideas of course are non physical to begin with.
Call it strange if will. ..our mind is the best place to store, digest , marry, mash-up and rebirth more and better ideas!
But to ensure they don’t fade away in oblivion, to give power to the idea(s) and to ensure dynamism in them, I have discovered that it is best to share them with other like minded (or should I say like hearted ) fellow entrepreneurship adventurers! We have plenty of them here on THRS!
Many many times, long after I had forgotten about my ideas folder (paper stack in a box) and my mind being busy in day to day adventures, it was my friends who have reminded me about the ideas I had shared earlier, about the discussion and brainstorming or even ‘idea fights’ we had had.
In many cases, the discussion actually gave birth to new ideas spontaneously, new perspective and over all maturity gained was amazing.
I know many people would be very skeptical to share ideas with others. But in reality, ideas are extremely over-rated and focused consistent actions in line of an idea.. are extremely under-rated.
Moreover, in very very rare case have the discussion of ‘my’ ideas led to any one to go out of their way to do some thing about it, let alone profit from it . And out of those few cases, where my friends have benefited , they have been grateful and thankful for the ideas/discussion.
Now, many might feel jealous / insecure / cheated or similar feeling seeing other’s success .. if that is the case. Then the friendship needs an upgrade. I mean, your friend(s) deserve a better friendship from you.
Also we are not going to live for long you see.. just few decades more. that’s it. Keeping that perspective will help.
You gotta have a bigger heart and celebrate in their success with joy. Its possible. If I can cross over from that side to this, so can you.
At least eventually it will happen. Dont worry. 🙂
Plus, you gain a great deal of confidence in your forthcoming ideas when you see any of your ideas seeing the light of the day, and transformed magically into reality.
Trust me , its true even when you have not implemented the idea. So, well, share them freely!
You will get bigger, better and more matured ones. Trust the source of your ideas.
The ones which you are having are merely stepping stones the mightier ones.
Happy Idea Sharing!
Ps: You might enjoy reading this awesome book called : Unleasing the Idea-Virus by Seth Godlin!
Ridhish Talwar
I tend to go with option 2 and have a few pages specifically made (within S Memo on my samsung) for ideas at 50k feet which are very generic in nature. For more specific thoughts, nothing beats good old pen/paper and whole lot of scribbling!
Sistla Venkata Abhishek
Perfect Omkar,
That happened to me as well. People reminded me of my ideas after a long time ! They saw something like FoodPanda and felt sad I did not do it. It was an idea that I had in about 2010. I know I can’t do it but .. They reminded me long after I forgot !
Also idea sharing with like minded people will not only help you share and spread the idea … But also if you think someone will copy your idea … You should go personally and tell him 😀 this way they’ll have no chance of copying it !! Unless they don’t have ethics !!
But your reply is a great read ! Thanks for sharing the information 🙂 🙂
Sistla Venkata Abhishek
True Ridhish, apart from the general notes ( notepad and phone memos ) and scribbling on Pen / Paper, it really isn’t easy to store ideas !!!
Omkar Nisal
“You should go personally and tell him 😀 this way they’ll have no chance of copying it !!”
Hahaha loved that! 🙂
Sistla Venkata Abhishek
🙂 🙂 😀
Sahil Bhatnagar
I dont know whether u have heard it or not but try OneNote….it syncs ur stuff across all devices and u can illustrate using images,have voice notes nd add bullet points,etc….its just like evernote but i like this better(better UI,i guess) and ios note app is also great!