Suggest me Mindtools or Process - For developer BRAIN.

Question

While discussing with my co-developer, I understood most of the time we spent on thinking about minor and major decisions. And 25% of our mind seems to be occupied with plenty of issues which are not directly related our current coding, while coding/design.

Few days later, he informed me that he is using Freemind for managing his task, felt that he got relieved somewhat better.

Assuming tool could be a process or software itself.

Do you use any tool? which are not used directly for your coding/design/development/testing, but you use it for all projects. Tool which helps brain to focus/organize. Could be used everyday, possibly for every task.

I am not sure either I put my question clearly, but don't give me build tools, and code generation tools. But suggest tools which help your brain.

Answer 1

Microsoft OneNote. It is the best tool I have ever found for just putting random throughts into writing with as little effort as possible. When you get those interesting thoughts that get you sidetracked, just writing them down make you able to move on without coming back to it all the time (mostly).

Answer 2

The tool is not as relevant as the system you use to process the information.

I've been using GTD for years now, and it's helped me to stay focused and keep my brain free to think about other things when I'm not programming.

I went through a million tools to do this kind of thing, none worked. Turned out it was my process for managing my thoughts that was the problem.

BTW, Evernote is very good for just getting thoughts out.

Answer 3

I personally like XMind (open-source) and MindManager which are both mind-mapping tools. Using it is a very natural way to visualize und structure thoughts on a certain topic. The results can be exported later and used as a Todo-list.

Answer 4

Buy a whiteboard and some pens.

Answer 5

You might want to read Andy Hunt's book Pragmatic Thinking and Learning.

I'm skeptical of most software for generating and organizing ideas. I find it better to brainstorm in the analog world -- pencil & paper, marker & whiteboard, etc. -- then capture the conclusions in software.

Answer 6

I recommend the whiteboard & marker solution, but I'd like to add voice recording of all brainstorming discussions.

Answer 7

What you need is a trusted system to store the 25% non-current items. Could be a text file on your desktop or a paper pad and pen. In the past I used gmail, a label and a rule. All emails with subject line starting with ref: or todo: would be assigned the appropriate labels. If a task pops up in my mind at the wrong time I just type it out in an email to myself and forget about it.

Once you have a trusted bucket to mind your useful but in the way thoughts and ideas, make sure to schedule time for review of that bucket. Otherwise it will not be trusted any more. Start with 5-10 min per day and then adjust.

To summarize: 1. Record the thoughts down so you can safely forget them 2. Use one trusted place for all your thoughts 3. Schedule time to review

These are elements from David Allen's Getting Things Done, which is a very simple and thus actually useful approach.

Good luck!