Thread by @TfTHacker

1/ Tools for Thought - 2021 Recap and 2022 Dreams

For those who follow Tools for Thought (#TfT) closely, 2021 has been an exciting year.

I want to provide a totally biased and opinionated recap of 2021, and also some of my hopes for 2022

2/ Roam

I really love Roam 2020 and hold within myself a lot of hope for it, but while the product contains brilliant ideas and holds much promise, the products advancement stalled. Perhaps intentionally, perhaps not.

For this reason I switched away from Roam as my main tool.

3/ I also changed my Twitter handle from RoamHacker to TfTHacker. Why?
+ Future of roam is a ⁉️
+ I want to explore other tools, not with intention of finding best tool, but finding the best ideas.

So I test and hack away at many tools, looking for the best concepts.

4/ At the end of the day, these products are just tools. It is up to us to fit them into our life, help us fulfill our personal needs and goals.

We should not be dependent on a specific tool for a our work. Workflows should be general enough that they can move between tools.

5/ My first tool to go deep on after Roam was Obsidian. Here is one my writeups on the tool, and all the thoughts are still valid.

@obsdmd

https://twitter.com/TfTHacker/status/1420650140050853888

6/ I learned a few lessons from the Obsidian devs & community:

Lesson 1: People process their thoughts differently. Obsidian users are more oriented toward file/folder thought management. Their minds are wired that way.

I see some people criticize this, but that is wrong to do

7/ Lesson 2: Obsidian is suited for long-form writing (ideal for things that get published). Also well suited for atomic notes. @andy_matuschak

This file centric “thinking” is different for me. I think in outlines, but value this different approach.

notes.andymatuschak.org/Evergreen_note…

8/ Lesson 3: from day one, Obsidian has always been about Markdown (MD). MD is a religion for Obsidian users.

Why MD?
+ No data lock-in (portable data format)
+ easy to manipulate with other tools

This gives their notes life beyond any tool.

This strategic vision is brilliant

9/ Also I tested @rem_note. This is a product that I know one day I will be tempted to use. When I tested Remnote, it had a few issues (buggy, performance, slow growth), but I think they are overcoming these issues & offer a unique value proposition.

It has a bright future!

10/ They have real potential because they have really good people working on the tool, people who are passionate about what they do.

If I was going to school again, Remnote would be my tool of choice since it has strong academic ties.

11/ @readwiseio this is the product that I believe will eventually be a part of every Tool for Thought toolbox, especially when their Reader product ships.

Readwise is an amazing product, and if you are not using it, I highly recommend you get started with it today.

12/ Readwise becomes your universal collection point for gathering all your notes and highlights from everything you read, whether that is online articles or books in products like kindle.

I love coming across notes from books I read over 10 years ago

13/ Readwise lets you import your personal reading notes into many TfT’s, with plugins for Obsidian, Roam, Notion and more to come.

So stop reading this thread, and go sign up 😀

Get extra free month with his link: bit.ly/31gcNrL

14/ I recently started playing with @craftdocsapp which is not marketed as a Tool for Thought, but has many TFT features and its clear they will be competing in this space in 2021.

I am excited about Craft, but still early to say if it can win my heart.

15/ Craft is for those who value good design aesthetics, want a beautiful writing environment, with tools that just help your thoughts flow. It is also for people who live a strong mobile life, so first class mobile support is fundamental to Craft. No other product comes close!

16/ 2022 Dreams

I think many new tools will come on the scene. Everyone now gets the market potential for tools for thought, not just note taking tools.

Some are tired of new tools, not me 😍

17/ Some are predicting a Roam 2022 comeback. I hope so. I have a 10 year believer plan (now down to 8.5 years). So I give them until about 2030 to get their act together.

I recently tried Roam. I see some improvements. But they should be much further along than they are.

18/ Sorry if it is self-promoting, but Roam42, SmartBlocks & workBench are basically whats new to Roam in 2021.

Roam needs to become less about @Conaw (visionary guru) and more about @RoamResearch as a team of people building a great product, working with customers & innovating.

19/ In 2022 my focus will be on workflows and documenting what I consider to be important & fundamental.

For example:
+ User definable block ID’s
+ Defining what all tools need for transclusion and backlinks
+ Data visualization
+ Continued learning
+ data interchange

20/ So dear community friends, if you continue to follow me on Twitter, do so not because I talk about a specific tool, but because I am going to talk about ideas important to all tools.

My focus is on TfT practices you will still be using in the years to come, not the tool.