RE: The Brain and GTD
My $.02 ....
The Brain has awesome power in it's ability to link disparate forms of data in multiple ways ... the idea that you can have a project with a contact, a Word document, a website, and more all interconnected is pretty awesome.
Practically speaking, file folders on your computer are capable of the same thing ... A project folder with shortcuts to files or actual files is actually easier for me to set up.
As far as tracking NAs and contexts, I think it would look cool ... it even gives some pretty great options for attaching support material, but as far as moving an NA to "completed status" or relinking it it another way ... the Brain gets a bit clunky when you try to move things around. Add links: sure. Add thoughts galore: sure. Make simple changes to existing thoughts and their links: a bit tedious.
A few more thoughts on the brain: I keep finding myself not trusting it as a system. I understand the notion of a mind map and all of that, and I find maps like that to be insanely useful. But when it comes to storing and organizing data, there is a part of me that WANTS a tree format, wants a system that gets more specific as you drill in to it. I guess what I am saying is taht filing has always felt like convergent thinking ... thinking that encourages specificity and simplicity. The Brain feels divergent, encouraging new modes of thought, new links between data, new ideas...
Anyone care to comment?
Bill Kracke