32 replies to this topic

[May]

Here is an article I wrote, it explains why and how I use evernote and manage everything on the iPad. I.e. how to manage project support and general reference with Evernote and iPad only.

It isn't really gtd specific, i.e. would be useful regardless of whether you do GTD or not because it focuses on how to organize non actionable data, how to use tags, sub-tags, mind maps and manage everything with Evernote and iPad or any other client because I don't really rely on any desktop specific features

http://db.tt/0mrbg5T6

Some quotes from the article

"When this is not enough...

... things get a lot more interesting when you need a little or a lot more structure than just flat lists."

"Sub-tags

The problem with sub-tags in Evernote is that they technically don't really exactly exist there."

I also reference jbenson2, BurgerNFries and Owyn posts to present different approaches to using tags and sub-tags in Evernote and explain what works and what doesn't and why.

[jbenson2]

Nice summary - one issue however. The formatting on page 14 got wiped out.

correct formatting:
http://discussion.ev...dpost__p__82762

[May]

Thanks, it was all done with iPad and some formatting got lost in the process of clipping information from the web. It's now fixed.

[jbenson2]

That was fast - well done.
I copied the PDF to my Evernote for future reference.

[May]

I've made a big update to this. The link in first post is still the same.

I edited some things and also added examples with pictures of how I'm actually using this in real life.
Examples demonstrate how I use multiple tags, sub-tags, mind maps to organize pretty much anything on iPad and it works either online or offline and syncs across all my other devices which makes the workflow cross platform.



It's a full GTD system on iPad... Managing actions and projects isn't a problem when you have Omnifocus, it's the non actionable data which is tricky to fully manage

At 35 of pages it is becoming more of a very small ebook I think.

Hope this helps. I wish I've read something like this in the past!

[Owyn]

Good work May.
Downloaded 2nd version. It's on my priority 1 reading list.

PS:
As a quoted forum user I should point out one thing. The example you quote is specific to that use case. It is optimized to make sense when I update notes for that use case and to make search results more readable. It is also stable for the foreseen future. The specific notes involved are currently 1265 out of 7568 in my database. A significant percentage, but, far from all.

I actually use almost all of the techniques you describe as needs arise.
e.g. I have a lot of software application reference notes. The tag "App_Evernote" is an instance of a set of prefixed tags which identify specific applications.
http://discussion.ev...post__p__118619

Notes can easily be coded/tagged for use with many use cases. My note titles however are frequently structured to support a primary use case (if applicable).

PPS: Comments based on first revision of your document. Will retract/revise as needed after reading the second version.

[May]

@Owyn, thanks. I added your additional explanation as well.

I also added some things, i.e. a little more info about different approaches to tags and sub-tags, how I personally use note titles to organize some notes, more about mind mapping and brainstorming with evernote. It's a small update overall.

[gazumped]

Hey - just caught up with this thread after all the updates. Good summary - pleased to see something in detail from someone who understands and uses mind maps as well as the Big Green Elephant. Have Evernoted the PDF for future reference.

Matter of interest, have you ever tried / thought of Wikis for brainstorming and managing lots of mainly textual data? Seems to me that there are at least four "views" of information - GTD / Evernote / Mind Map / and Wiki.

The advantages of Wiki include

• creating and linking to new blank pages seamlessly to bookmark information that needs to be researched / created / contributed. In a Wiki forinstance, "[ ]" around text immediately creates and links to a [new page] with that name. Makes it very easy and super quick to document an outline description and highlight where more data is required.
• networking with others (Wikipedia boasts over 16M users and nearly 26M pages) - so you could create a book by specifying chapter headings and inviting almost an unlimited number of others to create the content. (In practice we're talking about a small number of colleagues, not the whole of Wikipedia.)

Don't mean to hijack this thread - just think it's interesting how we all work in different ways and pick up hints how things might be done better; but at the end of the day, whatever works...

[May]

@gazumped, thanks!
This is an interesting point about wiki. First of all I personally have no experience with using wikis other than reading Wikipedia.

I think it's definitely a great tool for collaboration with lots of people but I don't think I really need it to manage my personal information. Those are my thoughts anyway. I like the way Wikipedia is structured and interlinked though.
When I was using PersonalBrain as my main system I looked at Wikipedia as an example and inspiration of how to organize general reference material even though I decided to keep my organizational structure a lot simpler.

[gazumped]

Without getting into too much detail (for a change) I like Wiki's - specifically Mediawiki, which is the serverside implementation of Wikipedia. It's certainly good for collaborations, big or small - I've heard of a foreign language textbook being written with it, each specialist chapter being farmed out to experts and researchers in a specific field, and swopped on completion to another team for validation. I've run several myself, including a personal Wiki that eventually was replaced in my affections by Big, Green - and a 'small' collaboration in a tech support contact centre where around 30 colleagues contributed technical fixes to a knowledge base used by 200+agents.

Once you get into it, the ease of adding data and links - and a very good built-in search engine - is a strong attractor; but the ability to index and categorise pages (similar to Notebooks and Tags) and the huge number of add-in apps lifts it even further. My personal favourite is the transclusion of pages - want to show a contact address in more than one page (note)? Then set the address up in one page, and use a special link in your child page(s) to allow the actual content of the linked page to show, rather than just the link. Pretty much like a JPG or PDF shows in a note, except there's a one-to-many linkage - one PDF, several notes to display it. If the address ever changes then, all the notes with that content will be updated with one change.

(I like to use the Allo allo* principle in databasing: "I shall say this only once.." so if information is out of its sell-by date, one change will update every user)

If anyone wants to dabble with Wikis - or any of several other useful server-side applications - I can recommend (but no connection, etc..) Bitnami.org who take the sweat out of setting up things that don't always play well with Windows in their own private sandbox.

/commercial break
/hijack thread. Again.

I'm not suggesting that Wikis are better than Big, Green - just highlighting that there are other techniques out there beside phrenology (!) that can be useful in handling information.

*One of those TV programmes where you really had to be there. And British.

[Owyn]

Yeah. Definitely agree about Wiki's strong support for collaborative writing. Specifically:

• Edit revision history is created for each revision.
• Section edits greatly reduce chance of conflicting edits.
• There is only one instance of the Wiki database. This is a strength when collaborating.
• Single but hierarchical namespace.
• Comments can be assigned to a revision.
• Support for Article Talk.
• Rich body of practices and procedures relevant to article management.

Evernote at this time is a weak many:many collaboration tool.

[gbarry]

Nice job May. Promoting.

[May]

@gbarry, thanks! I appreciate it.

[Joshua Zerkel]

May, your PDF is truly impressive. Excellent summary of how to use Evernote in conjunction with other productivity systems/tools. Great work - thank you for sharing!

[SFisher]

May

I am interested in reading you PDF but the link is not working. Could you check to see if it is still active?

Thanks

[May]

Joshua Zerkel, thanks! Yeah, it explains more about how to technically organize all information and integrate evernote with any other tool and use it across multiple different platforms, it shows how evernote could be as flexible as you need to instead of just a flat list of notes only.

The actual idea behind my organization structure isn't really explained and I might write about it too but in short it's just organized according to GTD concepts so people familiar with GTD would get the idea.

SFisher, I updated the link. I didn't know that shared dropbox links expire over time... I'd have to host the file somewhere else eventually

[Owyn]

@May
http://www.dropbox.com/help/167

Move the PDF to a Dropbox Public folder and then you can get a persistent share link.
The mobile (iPad/iPhone/etc) links expire after 30 days by design.

Edited by Owyn, 09 February 2012 - 01:06 PM.

[stephbaillie]

Hi,
The link is not working but I do not know whether it is because I am in China or for another reason.

[gtuckerkellogg]

Hi,
The link is not working but I do not know whether it is because I am in China or for another reason.

It's China. I can't access Dropbox except via VPN in china

[henkisdabro]

May, thanks for a great PDF indeed - I have learnt lots of things from it, and also convinced me to move my GTD system from Evernote (I have revamped it three times now without feeling content) to OmniFocus which you recommended as well. Thanks for that!

I own the iPhone 4S and the iPad2 as well as a MacBook Air and was hoping to get your input on which mind mapping software to use on the computer. iThoughtsHD for iPad looks amazing and can import mostly everything - but what if you want to collaborate on a mind map with a friend/colleague and sync on all devices? I am currently trying out Mind Manager 9 for Mac which has its own iPad/iPhone apps and basic dropbox/mindjetserver syncing built in. Thoughts?

PS. I love the mind maps you have made in the PDF, they ooze organisational power! :-)