0/ Several people read my last tweetstorm and found that it assumed too much context. So here's round two.
1/ Some people take notes. Some people don't. Do you?
2/ The concept of notes isn't especially groovy, sexy, cool, or interesting, unfortunately. Sorry. Maybe it will be after this thread.
3/ I didn't always take notes.
4/ It seemed like a good process for active learning, but I noticed that I didn't always re-read or re-use my notes, and that felt discouraging.
5/ I take a lot of notes these days. I'm taking an online course with Tiago Forte, of @fortelabs, who some have called "the next David Allen." @gtdguy
6/ David Allen, for context, is a productivity thought leader who has impacted many people in the last generation. I grew up reading about his ideas from @ginatrapani and other authors at @lifehacker @hotdogsladies of 43 folders, and more.
7/ Allen recommends capturing your information, especially actionable and reference materials, in a way that ensures that you will "get things done."
8/ It's a great system, one that is easy to start but takes years to master.
9/ I totally recommend getting his book if you need to dramatically level up your skills at getting things done.
10/ Learn more about David Allen before learning about Tiago Forte, because I see Forte's work as an extension of Allen's.
11/ That said, Forte has a course about GTD that's a very, very concise, zero to sixty actionable version. So that's an option.
12/ Sounds salesy, but I don't recommend online courses lightly. I'd never done them before this month.
13/ Anyways. The course I'm taking is called Building A Second Brain. #BASB.
14/ It's about capturing, organizing, and retrieving reference materials, notes, so that they're useful for creative output.
15/ Each of those verbs - capturing, organizing, and retrieving - has a corresponding methodology. Capturing's methodology is Progressive Summarization.
16/ The idea is that, after you take a note, each time you revisit that note, you improve it, adding optional layers.
17/ Layer 1: Take a note.
18/ Layer 2: Bold the best parts.
19/ Layer 3: Highlight the best bolded parts.
20/ Layer 4: Summarize the note.
21/ Layer 5: Remix the note, turning it into a deliverable, such as a tweet, a tweetstorm, or blog post.
22/ Each layer is optional, and you don't do each layer with every note. You do it "just in time," "opportunistically," "as needed."
23/ Why do all this work? When you revisit a note, possibly weeks or months later, it's quick and easy to get a sense of what the note's value.
24/ Like, it takes 30 seconds. Quick. Easy. Suddenly, notes are valuable again.
25/ There are other tools in the course- like P.A.R.A., which tells you where to store those notes, so you'll be sure to find them.
26/ But progressive summarization is the first pillar, and the one that's relevant to what I was talking about.
27/ Specifically, I was talking about a sixth layer, beyond 5, beyond remixing.
28/ What happens when you share a remix of a note - a tweetstorm, a blog post - and someone else reads it, and takes notes?
29/ What if they go through the same process you did, but with your output?
30/ They're coming at it from a different angle. They have a different context, different questions, different goals.
31/ But somehow, your output is important and relevant to them. You have overlapping interests.
32/ What happens if they complete all five stages of progressive summarization? What if they share their remix with you?
33/ With their context, they will produce something new that responds to but is notably not identical to your output.
34/ Similarly, it's also not identical to the input you had. They might not have even read what you were taking notes on.
35/ Let's call this sixth layer "feedback", thanks @EvanSamek: when others go through the same process with your output.
36/ Again, if you can access their output, which responds to your output, you can learn from them and their context.
37/ No reason it needs to stop there. It's a conversation, a feedback loop.
38/ The really interesting piece is, what if you look at this from the top, the outside?
39/ What does this mean for organizations and societies?
40/ How does knowledge flow between individuals over time?
41/ How does that process change if those individuals use this process?
42/ Again, what if we aren't individual selves, but a network of connections?
43/ How can we help each other, lift each other up, use knowledge to grow collectively?
44/ Put another way, in context, now that I've explained this more clearly, (I hope), how will you employ this knowledge?
45/ What notes are you taking? What will you tweet back?
