Much ado about noting

Visual thinkers aren't so lucky as verbal thinkers. Verbal thinkers can read a book or listen to a conversation and recount it point for point. Great chunks of text in books and articles aren't always easy for visual thinkers to absorb. Same goes for traditional note-taking techniques such as Outlining. We might want to explore a more visual method of outlining that'll help visual thinkers who need to record and analyse notes.

Mind maps

Mind mapping is a straightforward process which a lot of people are probably familiar with. A central node represents the beginning of the discussion or argument or idea, and child nodes are added according to the points and sub-points they represent.

Its power lies in the fact that it provides a visual representation of the flow of an discussion, argument or idea in order, minutes style. A visualised conversation is easier to follow at a glance.

And the text? The writing and reading experience to be very much like tweeting. Short blocks of text, rarely more than a sentence plotted as they come to mind. Great for taking notes in a hurry, minuting a meeting or planning a project.

Power tips

Markup with Hashtags

The Twitter analogy might be apt. By marking up a mind map with hashtags; for example, #speaker1, #somerelatedmeme, #verb, you can

identify memes and add commentary.

Output to text / OPML outline

Some mind mapping apps have the ability to export OPML or text outlines. This powerful. Turning a graphical mind map into an ordered text list - instant minutes - is a great way to create a structured document at speed. OPML allows you to use more powerful outlining tools. This is useful if you want to turn the outline into a longer document.

Getting things done

Now hashtags come into their own. If one of the points has been marked up as a verb - something you need to action - search for that hashtag using the find shortcut on your computer. This way all the actions you need to take will clear to see.

You can then lift the verbs out of your notes or minutes and chuck them into the inbox of your GTD system.

This process eliminates the need to hunt through pages and pages of notes to find the bits that really matter to you. Now they're as easy to find as a trending topic on Twitter. Mash that up with your GTD system and you can pipe your notes directly into your workflow.

Negative Outlining

If you're capturing notes from an argument such as an article or essay it's likely that you'll first record them in the same order that they appear in the source material. This is fine for comprehension but a mind map makes it easy to visually deconstruct an argument and build it up in whatever form you need. This is how:

• Use hashtags to markup premises and conclusion.
• Separate logical order from structural order. Important conclusions may have been recorded as child nodes and appear unimportant.
• Reconstruct the argument with conclusions at the top level and premises as child nodes.

Negative outlining is a powerful tool for deconstructing and reconstructing an argument. If you need to critique an argument or producing dialectics or syntheses you may find it reflects a process that right now you're having to keep in your head.

It's particularly interesting if you're analysing an argument you disagree with. The process should help make clear the faulty premise or conclusion that lies behind your disagreement.

Tools I use

There are loads of different tools available on different platforms (including pen and paper). For what it's worth, this is what I use:

• MindNode Touch for iPad and iPhone
• MindNode Pro for Mac
• CarbonFin Outliner for iPad
• OmniFocus for Mac, iPhone and iPad
• OmniOutliner for Mac