A growing thread of observations on the public RoamFM graph, its conversations, and everything in between (will add more over time for #roamcult):
1. Top names mentioned when asked how a guest discovered Roam (no order): @shuomi3, @vgr, @adam_keesling, @nateliason, @fortelabs x @Conaw beef
It's either Shu's quick videos, viral tweet threads, Nat's post or BASB power propelling Roam as a tool.
2. Majority of guests jumped from @evernote and @NotionHQ to Roam either:
- 100%
- Hybrid (eg. Notion for teams, Evernote for Archive)
A few have mentioned OneNote, physical notebooks.
Most recognized structure-first note-taking didn't fit their brains, and Roam was the answer
3. Gradual deconstruction of note-taking definitions turned the tool from 'just putting in notes' to 'this is how I think' (eg. The Aha Moment, The Roam Itch)
Most were looking to solve problems note-taking tools traditionally deal with first (surface-level) before going deeper
4. A few found the concept of daily notes weird at first
eg. comparing it to writing in a diary, faced with a date and blank page = wtf do I do
Took a while to understand the importance of the date as a metatag
5. We find it hard to articulate possibilities Roam gives us to non-Roamans
When asked to describe how to describe it, answers ranged from Second Brain to Roam to non-Roamers, #BASB became the closest simplification of that feeling.
6. All of my guests so far have focused on explaining their workflows and rationales in private Roam graphs
Only one guest has described it in a collaborative graph (@JESSCATE93 for RoamCN), and an upcoming guest who's running an entire startup on one Roam graph(!!) 👀
7. Related to 5, When asked what Roam means to them, there is a certain calm behind each answer.
Intricacies in tonality (warmth and excitement) from each answer indicate a feeling similar to 'I've finally found my home'
Found a place where frantic note-taking is accepted
8. Guests come in with initial reason in mind:
- Field-specific (eg. Teaching history, PhD Research)
- PKM (Note-taking, Productivity systems, efficiency)
Once they've tried the features, it bleeds out to other areas
- Journaling
- Thought loss anxiety
- Memories
Micro -> Macro
9. Limitations of a podcast: If workflow explanations get too technical, may need visual element as a complement to the show
I feel the show would not be able to work without shownotes and transcript MINIMUM
A video demo would be +++, need to bring these in
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