[HN Gopher] Note-taking isn't rocket science
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Note-taking isn't rocket science
        
       Author : memorable
       Score  : 124 points
       Date   : 2022-09-18 09:26 UTC (13 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (tsk.bearblog.dev)
 (TXT) w3m dump (tsk.bearblog.dev)
        
       | Waterluvian wrote:
       | I have a plug-in for VSCode where F6 opens a global markdown
       | file. That's it. I use that for everything for years and I love
       | it.
       | 
       | I usually purge it every six months or so. Maybe I should keep a
       | history, but so far I haven't needed one. Anything I feel like
       | needs to be recorded for posterity goes into documentation or
       | work wikis.
        
       | jleyank wrote:
       | Clairefontaine engineering ruled spiral notebook. There are
       | various sizes but I prefer the larger one. Good paper feel, inks
       | don't bleed and it survives riding about in a backpack with the
       | laptop. Everything goes into it so there's only one item to
       | remember. Pages are dated, key entries are highlighted. Bits can
       | be scanned. If I know when something happened, I can scan
       | backwards to restore state. Even random scribbles go in, and the
       | gridded pages help drawings.
       | 
       | "If you don't write it down, then it never happened...".
       | 
       | Yeah, some do it with a keyboard, but I find it hard to draw,
       | scribble or whatever when I have to switch devices or associate
       | drawings with text. Eventually, they'll figure out a tech
       | solution to all this but notebooks cost like $10-20, survive
       | impact and even survive a bit of liquid.
       | 
       | No, I didn't think this up myself. Merely watched a boss never
       | lack info on what went down last meeting or last week.
        
         | type0 wrote:
         | > notebooks cost like $10-20, survive impact and even survive a
         | bit of liquid.
         | 
         | There are even liquid tolerable notebooks that are more like
         | textile and even those are pretty inexpensive.
        
           | bee_rider wrote:
           | Paper-feel can be a big deal, though.
        
         | cfraenkel wrote:
         | If you really need the "if you don't write it down, then it
         | never happened...", then get a real bound notebook with
         | numbered pages. It's too easy to tear out a page in a wirebound
         | book.
        
       | i_like_apis wrote:
       | It really sounds like the author is intimidated by someone in his
       | personal life and is trying to mock them into doing less.
       | 
       | Also, that "people be like" grammar sounds so offensively dumb.
       | You loose all credibility for having anything smart to say
       | instantly.
        
         | chrisweekly wrote:
         | Sentence 1: ok, valid take.
         | 
         | Sentences 2,3: really funny (assuming it was deliberately
         | ironic), considering "loose" -> "lose", and using an adverb to
         | end a sentence, while critiquing grammar... ;b
        
           | i_like_apis wrote:
           | Well loose being a typo: you got me. But what's this noise
           | about ending a sentence with an adverb?
           | 
           | "People be doing" is dumb, objectively.
        
       | GuB-42 wrote:
       | I would be curious to know about actual note taking practices at
       | NASA, especially regarding manned spaceflight.
       | 
       | NASA is known to study every trivial aspect of everything,
       | because when an hour of an astronaut in mission is worth more
       | than a year of work for the average American, they stop being
       | trivial. And I am sure that efficient note taking is one of these
       | things NASA takes very seriously.
        
       | dieselgate wrote:
       | Fair enough points by Author but not very helpful for specifics.
       | One thing that's helped me in school was taking notes however but
       | then rewriting them in a more organized or neat fashion. Helps
       | for clarity and information retention
        
       | throwoutway wrote:
       | > (And if you need an example of dead-simple note-taking, James
       | Clear stores his notes in a multi-hundred Google document)
       | 
       | I was reading the James Clear story this AM, and it was pretty
       | eye-opening, particularly that he didn't actually know the story
       | or points he was trying to make. Rather, he was collecting a
       | bunch of anecdotes and then would work it into a narrative later.
       | 
       | I've done something similar with ~100 pages of notes and it was a
       | train wreck trying to iron it into something useful
        
         | johnchristopher wrote:
         | I remember reading an interview with Gibson and he described
         | his writing process as "I have these ideas and pieces of the
         | story but all intertwined like a messy audio tape out of its
         | case". I don't know if he tries to iron it out when submitting
         | the final script, what I like in his style certainly feels like
         | the tape hasn't been neatly put back together.
        
       | subprotocol wrote:
       | Note taking is actually a big part of rocket science: Step 1.
       | Take notes on rocket science Step 2. Discover and distill from
       | notes the first principles that help decouple yourself from
       | analog thinking Step 3. Engineer the most efficient rocket that
       | can practically get you there
        
       | blackbrokkoli wrote:
       | > Get what works for you.
       | 
       | Yes, I agree. What works for me however _is_ a fairly complex
       | system (although the complexity is hidden in everyday usage) that
       | took me several hundred hours to build, write and refine.
       | 
       | Taking notes is not so hard. Feel free to use any paper in your
       | reach or any software capable of storing text. The hard part is
       | actually _using_ these notes. Getting something out of them.
       | Relating them to other notes. Actually thinking  "hey I have note
       | for this?!" months later and executing on that thought. And then
       | still have an input mode so casual that you also still input
       | notes into your system.
       | 
       | Of course you can elect to care or not to care about that, same
       | as you can elect to not care about properly sharpened knifes,
       | identifying birds by sounds or child rearing practices.
       | 
       | But as with most things, if you care to do it well, it's anything
       | but trivial.
        
         | monkeydreams wrote:
         | The point of notes is to use information that presented
         | fleetingly, to drive further activity, inform decisions and
         | guide expectations.
         | 
         | The complexity must reside somewhere... but not during the
         | moments I am taking notes.
        
         | baq wrote:
         | For me, the goal of taking notes on paper is to internalize the
         | information. The act of writing it down is what helps to get
         | there, not the fact the information is written down.
         | 
         | IOW the best note taking system for me would be such that after
         | I took notes I could just shred the notes and retain all the
         | written down information in my head.
        
       | ChrisSD wrote:
       | I've recently simplified my note-taking workflow but there are
       | complexities. IMHO, a note taking application needs a way to at
       | least do the following with notes:
       | 
       | * View and edit
       | 
       | * Organise
       | 
       | * Search
       | 
       | * Sync
       | 
       | All in one solutions can be nice but also lock you in. It is as
       | the name says: all or nothing (well all or figure out how to
       | migrate your notes to another application). My current workflow
       | is to use different tools for different jobs. The downside is
       | it's more to set up and it may not be suitable for everybody.
       | 
       | * I use any markdown editor to view and edit notes
       | 
       | * I use the filesystem to organise notes by broad categories
       | (directories are never more than two deep)
       | 
       | * I can use any tool I like for searching notes (my markdown
       | editor(s) has one but I can also all use ripgrep or whatever tool
       | I like)
       | 
       | * I sync using my preferred cloud storage provider
       | 
       | My markdown editor is doing most of the job of a note taking app
       | but the point is I can seamless switch for something else without
       | much hassle. Or use different ones on different platforms.
       | 
       | This does require search tools to do a lot of heavy lifting when
       | broad categories aren't enough to find something. But I've yet to
       | find a better way (I've not had much success managing tags, they
       | get messy fast).
        
         | dangoor wrote:
         | Obsidian[1] is an all-in-one solution that doesn't have much in
         | the way of lock in. It fundamentally runs on Markdown files
         | sitting in your filesystem (and you can even "reveal in Finder"
         | from the UI). It has its own custom indexing to make things
         | quick. They offer sync as a service, but people also use other
         | sync solutions. They have a mobile app version to access notes
         | elsewhere.
         | 
         | Beyond just folders for categories and tags, Obsidian also
         | supports easy linking between notes (and shows backlinks for
         | the current note).
         | 
         | In the end, it's great: should I decide Obsidian is no longer
         | right for me, I have a bunch of Markdown on disk that I can
         | take elsewhere.
         | 
         | [1]: https://obsidian.md/
        
       | meltyness wrote:
       | So, looking through my notes here, rocket science is: $dv =
       | -v_\text{ejection}(dm/m)$
       | 
       | Then I ran Dijkstra's algorithm across my notes (903 pages, 90
       | folder, 18MB), and the shortest pathway between rocket propulsion
       | and communications (which is presumably the closest concept to
       | "note-taking" represented in my obsidian vault),
       | 
       | Communications and locomotion are both applications of physics --
       | rocket propulsion being one specific model.
       | 
       | By virtue of the fact that both tasks are physics, I would claim
       | the inverse and say that note-taking is indeed rocket-science,
       | and therefore complicated as the common metaphor would suggest
       | you're implying.
       | 
       | But then I loosened constraints (essentially 6 degrees-of-
       | separation between communications and rocket propulsion), and
       | came to the following realizations:
       | 
       | - Ink, toner, and the advent of electronics like the laser
       | printer, are owed at-least in part to the broad effort in science
       | of the space race.
       | 
       | - Additionally, since the flames of a rocket reach temperatures
       | that would exceed human limitations, and the human limitation
       | that speech is primary form of communications means that good
       | note taking is a way to overcome a key human limitation I've
       | identified.
       | 
       | - And since presumably, human communications regarding models of
       | physics resulted in the physical laws and principles that
       | resulted in us producing the thrust force and exceeding the
       | escape speed imposed due to the gravitational interaction using
       | combustion -- note taking caused rocket science.
       | 
       | Just my calculus on the situation.
        
       | irishcarbomb777 wrote:
       | Adobe Illustrator and other infinite canvas platforms provide a
       | compelling case against this. Forcing yourself to draw pictures
       | of what you're taking notes on especially in studying software
       | systems where the ideas are abstract and not necessarily visual
       | is really useful. The added ability to nest concepts inside other
       | concepts like Russian doll note taking is also pretty
       | interesting. You can also screen clip whole articles and paste
       | them next to your drawings and notes. Infinite canvas note taking
       | is probably the most useful thing I've ever discovered in terms
       | of learning technical systems.
        
       | mpalczewski wrote:
       | For computer note taking, I love vim wiki. I used to use a Google
       | doc but I really like how quick it is to open and navigate in
       | vim.
       | 
       | For paper note taking I like a good notebook with a fountain pen.
       | Writing has become enjoyable once I re-discovered fountain pens
       | for myself.
        
       | vfinn wrote:
       | I have had text file + folder system for over 4 years now, and I
       | feel it iteratively gets better and better.
       | 
       | The upper level (text file) category determines the high level
       | structure, e.g. 01. todo; 03. ideas, concepts; 06. thoughts; 12.
       | humour; 04. politics; 19. food; 05. self; 20. mathematics; 21.
       | philosophy, etc, and the file itself contains high level
       | remarks/thoughts, depending on how necessary it's to have
       | subcategories. The folder is named after the text file category
       | and it contains subcategories and material (research papers in
       | pdf, pictures, sketches, etc). The system structure moves
       | recursively downwards, although in most cases I only need 2
       | levels. For example "19. food" has subcategories such as 01.
       | vitamin content; 02. electrolytes; 03. meal design, etc, and
       | these could have their own subcategories.
       | 
       | I feel my system is like an externalized version of my ego
       | (including extensions). As I put more content into the system, I
       | become more aware of myself and my shortcomings and the
       | thought/emotional patterns I have, and as I make changes to the
       | system I develop/restructure my own thinking. It works really
       | great, but I still haven't figured out 1) how to deal with the
       | material in version control, because I'd like separate the text
       | files that I put into git from sizeable material files; 2) how to
       | automatize the backup process; 3) how to store sensitive data in
       | git automatically (it would be nice if I could encrypt files in a
       | meaningful way and still be able to have a measure of the size of
       | the diff).
        
         | freetanga wrote:
         | Nice. Sometimes I wonder why we don't go full circle and bring
         | back gopher. Your filing structure brought that idea back.
        
       | kbos87 wrote:
       | The post is short so I don't want to read too much into the
       | authors intentions, but it seems like their logic may be
       | suffering from a blind spot - that patterns and systems that look
       | like unnecessary complexity from the outside might actually be in
       | service of simplifying the use of those notes for the writer.
       | 
       | You can't just look at a system you don't understand and deem it
       | too complicated. You'd need some objective measure of how
       | efficient and effective a note taking system is at doing its job
       | - e.g., the speed a user can later find a particular note, or the
       | success rate the user might have at querying their database of
       | notes and getting back a quality answer.
        
         | axiomsEnd wrote:
         | I think he writes to people who have issues with starting due
         | to decision paralysis due to multiple options. Complicated note
         | systems are fine if they come from natural evolution of users
         | "note enviroment", but a hell if you don't have any notes yet,
         | and thus no idea if you should organise them by tags, date,
         | lenght, topic, graph of links or their combination.
        
       | rvieira wrote:
       | Sure, but as long as it is digital plain text files.
       | 
       | I've tried the minimal paper setup and it got to the point where:
       | 
       | - Recall was terrible (both in-notes, i.e. no quick search and
       | physical notebook misplaced at the most incovenient times)
       | 
       | - Insane amounts of duplication (no easy linking to old notes)
       | 
       | - Unshareability (couldn't lend notebook to colleague as it was
       | personal, had to type it anyway)
       | 
       | - No redundancy (dog ate notes)
       | 
       | I now have a digital text file system. Although it is not a "NASA
       | project", I can add searchability with basically any tool, easy
       | linking (with tags or wikilinks to dates, topics, etc), copy-
       | pasting and proper backup. It is portable across devices and OSes
       | and allows me to perform simple (and complex) analysis with
       | simple scripts if I need.
       | 
       | Being simple text, I expect this system to scale for the rest of
       | my life.
        
       | sorokod wrote:
       | In the heart of any note taking system is the note taker.
       | 
       | People seriously underestimate the amount of self discipline and
       | determination required to keep taking and grooming notes.
       | 
       | Without that discipline the supporting software is quite
       | irrelevant.
        
         | Naga wrote:
         | Agreed. I maintain a paper zettlekasten and have for about six
         | months, but still growing strong. The key factor in deciding on
         | paper is that the hard parts are 1. Writing at all, then 2.
         | What to write. Software doesn't solve either of those problems
        
       | samsquire wrote:
       | Creating notes can also be used as a journal.
       | 
       | My process is to create a GitHub repository and README.md file
       | and create a # markdown heading for each entry with a simple name
       | for the thought or description of the idea. Then I write a few
       | paragraphs to a few pages of ideas.
       | 
       | I number the markdown headings. GitHub has a indescript table of
       | contents button in the top left of the README.md
       | 
       | When I get to 100-300 I create a new repository and repeat.
       | 
       | My computer ideas journal is kind of a blog and I write it in the
       | open on GitHub. Here are links to it. There's over 450+ journal
       | entries of computer software ideas, community ideas, algorithm
       | ideas and software design ideas.
       | 
       | https://GitHub.com/samsquire/ideas
       | https://GitHub.com/samsquire/ideas2
       | https://GitHub.com/samsquire/ideas3
       | 
       | https://GitHub.com/samsquire/ideas4
        
       | Semaphor wrote:
       | From trying note-taking multiple times, I think my perfect note-
       | taking systems involves markdown files that I sync myself. And
       | then an AI goes over them, understands what I wrote, and the
       | context, and organizes and interlinks those files. Turns out, the
       | 2nd step is a bit harder than rocket science.
        
       | cm42 wrote:
       | (Also, emacs > vim)
        
       | Xc43 wrote:
       | I use Roam Research. It's just the tool I use. I use it because
       | there was hype for it.
       | 
       | I delved deep into meta note-taking with RR. Watched videos,
       | participated in book clubs, built a zettelkasten, etc.
       | 
       | While meta note-taking is not note-taking, I found the time spent
       | meta note-taking meaningful. It is a reward on its own. The
       | benefit, is that I now feel comfortable using my tool. And using
       | it, I do.
       | 
       | While I also prefer for each of my passing seconds to contribute
       | to the production an artefact, if it is not the case then it is
       | fine too. That is the distinction between project and hobby.
       | 
       | I started as note-taking hobbyist and now I guess you could call
       | me a note-taking pro :)
       | 
       | Do not hate the hobbyist.
        
       | infinityplus1 wrote:
       | I simply use Gmail drafts. Good enough for taking basic notes on
       | PC as well as my phone.
        
       | forgotpwd16 wrote:
       | >James Clear stores his notes in a multi-hundred Google document
       | 
       | Seems author didn't even read the article linked.
       | 
       | >Ideas I'm working on and anything relevant I come across all get
       | dumped into Asana on my desktop. [...] I write in whatever comes
       | to mind--a possible title, or a possible tagline.
       | 
       | Arguably this is a form of notes.
       | 
       | >I write and edit my books in Google Docs.
       | 
       | So not used for keeping notes but more like assembling notes or
       | various thoughts in coherent format.
       | 
       | >I keep notes on what I read in Evernote.
       | 
       | Last one is literally a section title.
        
       | cush wrote:
       | "Write better notes by writing notes". Thanks..?
       | 
       | No idea what this blog post is getting at. Maybe they're trying
       | to point out that consistently writing notes will produce higher
       | quality notes than changing styles every 6 weeks?
        
       | _visgean wrote:
       | I agree with the general spirit of the article - so many
       | developers are obsessed with finding the best system and quite a
       | few even write their own. But I have not really seen people who
       | spend that much energy on notes to be any more productive...
        
       | Kinrany wrote:
       | This post is practically devoid of content. Why do you care what
       | other people spend their time on?
        
         | ergocoder wrote:
         | It's also tautological. Of course, we should use the note-
         | taking approach that works for us.
         | 
         | Who would agree with using a note-taking approach that does NOT
         | work for you?
         | 
         | One of the ways to figure out which note-taking approach works
         | is to try the note-taking approaches from other people... It
         | could be 18 multi-step note taking approach or it could be
         | dead-simple. Unless you try, you won't know which one works for
         | you.
        
         | tobr wrote:
         | Why do you care what other people care about?
        
           | Kinrany wrote:
           | Their posts end up on HN and make the signal-to-noise ratio
           | worse.
        
         | IsItThough wrote:
         | As someone who has spent hours watching some "creative" person
         | painfully "transition" from Notion to Obsidian, I can only echo
         | this pithy response.
        
           | sbdncuvh wrote:
           | I tried to transition from years of loose txt files to
           | obsidian.
           | 
           | When I opened the folder the app showed me 1-2 files from
           | years ago.
           | 
           | Apparently it only supports .md files.
           | 
           | I literally laughed out loud and deleted the app from my
           | computer.
           | 
           | You've got a damn knowledge map but handling txt files is
           | beneath you?
           | 
           | That app is doomed to obscurity.
        
             | regularjack wrote:
             | There's a plugin that adds support for txt files:
             | https://github.com/deathau/txt-as-md-obsidian
        
             | TotempaaltJ wrote:
             | > That app is doomed to obscurity.
             | 
             | Quite arrogant to assume that an app not supporting /your/
             | specific note-taking workflow means it's "doomed to
             | obscurity". It's a popular app with plenty of users, a
             | healthy plugin community, and a team of six building it. I
             | think that pretty obviously proves you wrong.
             | 
             | If you were actually interested in trying it out, you
             | could've simply run a quick find command.
             | 
             | find . -name "*.txt" -exec rename -v 's/\\.txt$/\\.md/i' {}
             | \;
        
         | koheripbal wrote:
         | Moreover, it's just advocating a specific extreme to a broad
         | set of real-world situations in "just do it" fashion.
         | 
         | There's usually a balance between planning and execution. Note
         | taking is no different.
         | 
         | There's no simple always solution to "plan meticulously" vs
         | "just do it". Every choice in life is a cost-benefit analysis.
         | 
         | Personally, I spent a little time to setup orgmode. Works for
         | me.
        
       | JoeAltmaier wrote:
       | I use a paper notebook.
        
       | viktorcode wrote:
       | Let me mirror that with a sarcasm:
       | 
       | Code typing is a practice of typing code, really. Why some people
       | building their code editors like NASA engineers building the next
       | rocket to send us to the next habitable Earth?
       | 
       | You don't need to meticulously craft your code editor, stop
       | overthinking.
        
         | JadeNB wrote:
         | > You don't need to meticulously craft your code editor, stop
         | overthinking.
         | 
         | You don't _need_ to, in the sense that you _can_ craft code in
         | anything, but surely anyone who is an expert in their editor of
         | choice--whatever that editor may be--would feel a huge
         | productivity hit if forced to use another, formally equivalent,
         | editor.
        
           | forgotpwd16 wrote:
           | You missed:
           | 
           | >Let me mirror that with a sarcasm
           | 
           | It is a remark to the post's argument. Indeed someone doesn't
           | need a note-taking system but their productivity may increase
           | with one. (Whatever a note-taking system is to someone.)
        
       | lnxg33k1 wrote:
       | I have noticed here for a period of time some people posting blog
       | posts about their way to take note, I think it's about directing
       | traffic to their blogs, and building klout, probably the biggest
       | contribution of those posters is to make sure you know which blog
       | url you can blacklist as they have nothing to say and just build
       | clickbait, so I am thankful for that
        
       | __jambo wrote:
       | Actually I think that creating a "perfect" note taking system
       | reduces to finding an ideal compression algorithm for human
       | knowledge, which Hutter showed is equivalent to solving general
       | AI.
       | 
       | So you're wrong, note taking is at least as hard as rocket
       | science, probably much harder since algorithmically rocket
       | science is a pretty straightforward control problem plus some
       | tuning.
        
         | coldtea wrote:
         | You first blew note taking out of all proportion as an axiom
         | "reduces to finding an ideal compression algorithm for human
         | knowledge", and then deduced that "is at least as hard as
         | rocket science".
         | 
         | There's no reason we should view note taking, the activity, as
         | the pursuit of finding "an ideal compression algorithm for
         | human knowledge". Finding just "a compression algorithm for
         | human knowledge that suits us" will do.
         | 
         | When we do note taking just want to be able to find and
         | remember something down the road. That's what we need to solve,
         | for our preferences and requirements, and being happy with
         | something that works good enough.
         | 
         | The same way that when we play guitar we don't want to be "the
         | best possible technical/emotional/harmonic/melodic player that
         | can possible exist", just to be able to play songs to have fun,
         | play in a band, or be good musicians.
        
           | __jambo wrote:
           | Yes, but it depends "what suits you". It can be arbitrarily
           | difficult and there are similarities that go along the lines
           | of fundamentally challenging CS problems, which is why
           | everyone and their plushy-toy seem to be obsessing over it I
           | assume.
           | 
           | Hacker news people are probably curious nerds.
        
             | Apocryphon wrote:
             | HN people are also notorious bikeshedders.
        
       | davesque wrote:
       | This post is like a litmus test for people who reply to the title
       | instead of the content.
        
         | drewcoo wrote:
         | What content? There is literally more content, and more
         | thoughtful content, here on HN in response to the article!
        
           | davesque wrote:
           | Yep, I know there's no content.
        
           | Apocryphon wrote:
           | It depends. We've seen this "thoughtful content" of HNers
           | posting in detail about their personal notes-taking systems
           | ad nauseum in uncountable threads already. No one asked for
           | them to do it again here.
           | 
           | The whole point is that an elaborate system for taking notes
           | is unnecessary and likely detracts from the actual work
           | getting done.
        
             | smoldesu wrote:
             | I'd reckon everyone is seeing greener grass on the other
             | side, it's hard to believe that Markdown is more time-
             | consuming than plaintext. The entire point of a "notes
             | system" is that it works well for you. If you only need to
             | take weekly notes, you won't need organization at all. If
             | you're studying a variety of academic topics, then yeah,
             | you're going to want a notetaking schema of some kind, even
             | if it's only hierarchical folders.
             | 
             | I'll still agree that notetaking doesn't need to be
             | complicated, but... I don't see Markdown or Zettelkasten as
             | complicated at all. It's like telling someone "version
             | control isn't rocket science" and encouraging them to
             | uninstall git in favor of versioned tarballs.
        
               | Apocryphon wrote:
               | The OP doesn't actually recommend people do that. It just
               | says that note-taking need not be overcomplicated. No one
               | said Markdown is time-consuming.
        
               | smoldesu wrote:
               | Then I guess I have to agree with the HN consensus, here.
               | This is a pointless post with no call-to-action, it
               | purely exists to jab the Pathos stick into the side of
               | people who could care less.
        
               | Apocryphon wrote:
               | I see it as existing within the context of cultural
               | trends. For years productivity porn and life hacks were
               | in vogue. But the market for it has gotten big and
               | bloated, the content overwhelming and over-monetized, so
               | there's a cultural backlash against it now. The post
               | mostly serves as a cathartic cry.
               | 
               | For something more substantiative, satire can be more
               | effective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o7qjN3KF8U
               | 
               | Though that video is from- 2018?!
        
               | smoldesu wrote:
               | > For years productivity porn and life hacks were in
               | vogue. But the market for it has gotten big and bloated,
               | the content overwhelming and over-monetized, so there's a
               | cultural backlash against it now.
               | 
               | I agree. How is this a critique of any of that? They
               | aren't calling out over-monetized SaaS products; they're
               | calling out the entire market of notetaking apps. Their
               | rhetoric doesn't support the idea that productivity porn
               | is harmful, but rather that simplicity is paramount and
               | everything else is superfluous. Which is simply _wrong_.
               | Maybe it 's easy for a solo-dev to piss on knowledge
               | bases, but well-organized notetaking systems is what
               | keeps the corporate world going round.
               | 
               | Unless the author has a better, simpler alternative to
               | the organization products people already use, this
               | article simply reads as whining. Who is even the intended
               | audience?
        
         | xani_ wrote:
         | If by that you mean that people that saw the content didn't
         | participate coz there is just _nothing there_ , sure
        
           | davesque wrote:
           | That's exactly what I meant :).
        
           | mannykannot wrote:
           | The one and only article linked to by this one is arguably
           | worth posting here, and in fact, it was, about an hour ago
           | (I'm guessing as a response to the vacuity of this one.)
           | Unlike this one, and somewhat ironically, it seems to have
           | been ignored so far.
           | 
           | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32887140
        
       | m0llusk wrote:
       | I love space ships and drawing space ships. As a results my notes
       | have always been full of space ships and that becomes a metaphor.
       | Big important ideas get big spaceships next to them. Connected
       | ideas get space ships flying back and forth between them. Popular
       | ideas get fleets of space ships drawn next to them. Controversial
       | ideas get highlighted with space battles. People who see my notes
       | and try to make use of them are often critical, but this has
       | always helped both to engage me with note taking and to enjoy
       | going over and really understanding notes when reviewing
       | material. So for me note taking really is rocket science.
        
         | ravi-delia wrote:
         | Yeah, I'm quite proud at how my doodling skills have improved
         | now that I take "notes". Keeps me from zoning out, and while my
         | pen is out I find i actually do write stuff with it
        
         | Apocryphon wrote:
         | Finally, a notes-taking system on HN that makes some damn
         | sense.
        
           | antupis wrote:
           | Yeah this much better than _insert here some obscure usually
           | German sounding word_ note system.
        
             | layer8 wrote:
             | Isn't the above the Raumschiffnotizen system?
        
               | janandonly wrote:
               | Why can I only give a +1 to brilliant posts like this?
               | 
               | I had to laugh out loud. Thanks for making my day.
        
           | alostpuppy wrote:
           | Agree 100%. The rest of them just make me feel bad about
           | myself.
        
       | oxff wrote:
       | You can just start taking notes, like right now. The meta-
       | organization just pops out eventually once you grasp the subject
       | well enough. People making it a biz are essentially cargo
       | culting.
       | 
       | One of those things that are not rocket science, yet is presented
       | as such.
        
       | werber wrote:
       | For me, syncing my Apple accounts on my mobile while keeping them
       | separate on my work and personal computer has been a game changer
       | because it was easy to do, it requires no thought or maintaining
        
       | bachmeier wrote:
       | > And if you need an example of dead-simple note-taking, James
       | Clear stores his notes in a multi-hundred Google document
       | 
       | If you click the link, you see that he uses other tools for
       | notes, including Asana and Evernote. Google Docs is for writing a
       | book.
        
       | posharma wrote:
       | And yet we've 61+ comments discussing note taking yet again.
        
         | fhsm wrote:
         | I have a clear memory of my first team lead telling me to be
         | mindful because "meta work is always more fun than work" when I
         | was fussing with my vimrc. It has stuck with me and I'm yet to
         | see a counter example to it. The rub is that great tooling is
         | ultra high leverage and work adjacent fun is good for the
         | spirits and a sort of intelectual cross training.
         | 
         | So make that 62
        
       | bartimus wrote:
       | What works for me is not having my listening (and recollection)
       | capacity being interrupted by taking notes.
        
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