Digital reference system

manynothings

Registered
Hello,

Anyone here with experience using a completely digital reference system? Whether it was sucessful or not? Challenges? How to deal with handwritten project plans?

Thanks,

manynothings.
 

ivanjay205

Registered
Hello,

Anyone here with experience using a completely digital reference system? Whether it was sucessful or not? Challenges? How to deal with handwritten project plans?

Thanks,

manynothings.
I am 98% digital reference system. The only thing I do not keep digitally are manuals if they are in a book etc. Although as of late even those I try to find digital and if so toss the paper copies.

I love it because if I need something at home, at work, in a hotel, on a plane, etc. I can get it all. I find that you have to be VERY deliberate with how you save things. My biggest challenge is purging. WIth a physical cabinet I know when it is time to purge. I can literally keep everything digitally so I am now trying to be better about periodically tossing old material.

Anything handwritten I just scan. I use Adobe Scan on my phone or my large scanner in my office.
 

YannCharlou

Registered
Hi,
I've moved to 100% digital (except for legal documents).
- Project associated documents : Simple by customer/project or domain/project directory structure. (+ backup / cloud)
- Personal knowledge : Obsidian (+Obsidian Sync +backup) using the ZettleKasten method.
- Shared knowledge (team procedures, ...) : WikiJS

Handwriten plans :
I don't use handwrited plans. I usualy use mindmaps or gantt chart for project plans and there are really good pieces of software to do this quicker than with hand.
For mindmaps, I use Freeplane. It's hugly but lightning fast using only keyboard to create mindmap. It's fast enough to take live notes during a meeting and give you a cleaner result easier. (You can share it in live on a screen during meeting.)

Best regards,
Yann
 

ivanjay205

Registered
Hi,
I've moved to 100% digital (except for legal documents).
- Project associated documents : Simple by customer/project or domain/project directory structure. (+ backup / cloud)
- Personal knowledge : Obsidian (+Obsidian Sync +backup) using the ZettleKasten method.
- Shared knowledge (team procedures, ...) : WikiJS

Handwriten plans :
I don't use handwrited plans. I usualy use mindmaps or gantt chart for project plans and there are really good pieces of software to do this quicker than with hand.
For mindmaps, I use Freeplane. It's hugly but lightning fast using only keyboard to create mindmap. It's fast enough to take live notes during a meeting and give you a cleaner result easier. (You can share it in live on a screen during meeting.)

Best regards,
Yann
I am not sure if you can share or not for confidential reasons but I have never really wrapped my hands around mind mapping and how to use it. Is there any sample or idea you could share to see what was done? Either on the forum or privately? If not I completely understand I am just very much intrigued by it but have never seen one or understood how to go about it.
 

YannCharlou

Registered
I am not sure if you can share or not for confidential reasons but I have never really wrapped my hands around mind mapping and how to use it. Is there any sample or idea you could share to see what was done? Either on the forum or privately? If not I completely understand I am just very much intrigued by it but have never seen one or understood how to go about it.
You can find a lot of mindmaps on the web that can help you. All my own mindmaps are in French, so maybe not the best to share on an english forum. Just search for mindmap in google image and you will find lot of examples.

The key concepts are :
- The center node contain the question or the subject of the map.
- You read it clockwise starting at top right.
- Each node can have children.
- Each node represents a concept. His children are child concepts.

Why it is more efficient than traditionnal vertical note taking ?
- Organizing concept in hierarchy help you to take an easy overview of all ideas.
- This way of represent ideas (grouping and connecting) is really close to the way your mind works so it really help you to understand complex or huge concepts.
- With a mindmap software, you can open and close branches and zoom. So you can easily dig into huge mindmaps.

In wich case am I using mindmap :
- Everytime I have to understand something complex with multiple concepts.
- Take notes during meeting. (with the appropriate software, it's faster than writing by and and allow to organize or reorganize in live.)
- To drive a brainstorming in live during meeting. (displaying the mindmap in live on a screen, everybody can see all ideas organized in live giving to everyone at same time all ideas and a good overview and synthesis at the same time.)
- To sort and summarize the key concepts of a book that I read.
- To prepare the plan of a course, an article or any other type of content I create.
- To make a project plan or calculate a quotation on a projet. (freeplane have some math fonctionnalities. If you add for example a price on a node. It can give you the sum on the parent node.)
- To find ideas about anything. (brand name, ...)
- Making a shopping list (one parent node for each shop area) it greatly help to not forget anything when you write it then to be efficient in the shop.
- To store all my knowledge. (using Obsidian wich produce a sort of huge mindmap of all notes I've taken)

Wich software ?
- Freeplane : hugly but extremely fast because you can use it wich only keyboard knowing only few shortcuts.
- Obsidian : for knowledge management only.
 

ivanjay205

Registered
You can find a lot of mindmaps on the web that can help you. All my own mindmaps are in French, so maybe not the best to share on an english forum. Just search for mindmap in google image and you will find lot of examples.

The key concepts are :
- The center node contain the question or the subject of the map.
- You read it clockwise starting at top right.
- Each node can have children.
- Each node represents a concept. His children are child concepts.

Why it is more efficient than traditionnal vertical note taking ?
- Organizing concept in hierarchy help you to take an easy overview of all ideas.
- This way of represent ideas (grouping and connecting) is really close to the way your mind works so it really help you to understand complex or huge concepts.
- With a mindmap software, you can open and close branches and zoom. So you can easily dig into huge mindmaps.

In wich case am I using mindmap :
- Everytime I have to understand something complex with multiple concepts.
- Take notes during meeting. (with the appropriate software, it's faster than writing by and and allow to organize or reorganize in live.)
- To drive a brainstorming in live during meeting. (displaying the mindmap in live on a screen, everybody can see all ideas organized in live giving to everyone at same time all ideas and a good overview and synthesis at the same time.)
- To sort and summarize the key concepts of a book that I read.
- To prepare the plan of a course, an article or any other type of content I create.
- To make a project plan or calculate a quotation on a projet. (freeplane have some math fonctionnalities. If you add for example a price on a node. It can give you the sum on the parent node.)
- To find ideas about anything. (brand name, ...)
- Making a shopping list (one parent node for each shop area) it greatly help to not forget anything when you write it then to be efficient in the shop.
- To store all my knowledge. (using Obsidian wich produce a sort of huge mindmap of all notes I've taken)

Wich software ?
- Freeplane : hugly but extremely fast because you can use it wich only keyboard knowing only few shortcuts.
- Obsidian : for knowledge management only.
So wow..... Without taking the time to really research or try I just felt the right opportunity come up in a meeting today where I was brainstorming and coaching someone on my team. It just seemed like a natural fit. So I went to my whiteboard and went to work on this. And WOW the results were amazing. We came up with some amazing stuff and it was really a great way to do it. I have never enjoyed brainstorming so much!

Now my whiteboard in my office ran out of room so digital or figuring out how to plan that is important but I am sold on the method!
 

YannCharlou

Registered
So wow..... Without taking the time to really research or try I just felt the right opportunity come up in a meeting today where I was brainstorming and coaching someone on my team. It just seemed like a natural fit. So I went to my whiteboard and went to work on this. And WOW the results were amazing. We came up with some amazing stuff and it was really a great way to do it. I have never enjoyed brainstorming so much!

Now my whiteboard in my office ran out of room so digital or figuring out how to plan that is important but I am sold on the method!
Welcome to the mindmap fan club ! ;)
 
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