Digital Mindfield Manifest
A Workflow for Life in a Digital Age
This is a manifest for the workflow I've constructed for my personal digital and organic life. It helps me stay on top of the things I consume, create, observe, help me to do more of each of those three things and better.
Tools
To implement such a system there needs to be an interface for which tools and types of tools needed. This is how I classify those.
Launchers
In our digital lives we have many forms of launchers, the core idea is a place where you can easily launch a tool to aid in a specific need fast.
examples:
- Desktop
- 2 dimensional
- Large, many shortcuts
- Can be used for temporary storage
- Can be used as work area
- Folders
- Taskbar
- Always visible
- Quick
- Shows active programs
- Start menu (windows)
- Searchable
- Available with button click
- 2d (win10)
- Folders
- Easy to click (As Fitts law explains, the buttons have infinite effective size when calculating clicability),
- Browser bookmark bar
- Always visible while in browser
- Folders
- Browser bookmarks
- Easy to add to
- Browser new tab page
- Phone launcher (main screen)
Processing Canvas
The core of the workflow, this is where ideas develop and memories stored, where views are solidified and liquified, and where the past present and future are evaluated.
Specifications
- Need to be able to write and consume information in a comfortable accessible way
- Need to be resilient and none-fragile, future proof
- [!] Using a frail notebook or an online service that controls your data with no personal control both are examples of what to be weary of. Both are better than nothing though, write on toilet paper if you have to
- Need to have low friction, never use a tool that makes it difficult to use for the desired purpose.
- [!] Notion was an example of that, wanted to use it as a not taking service but the app takes about ten seconds to load. When I have an idea I have to wait ten seconds to even interact with the app and then a few more seconds as it loads my notes page and lets me create a new one.
- Using it needs to be a fun experience - make it look good, make sure to keep it organized and don't forgive gripes and flaws that hurt the experience, a tool of this sort, that would be used every day is something worth investing energy into.
- [!] Never let optimization override the process itself though, again, the most important thing is to process, write and explore at the end of the day.
Calendar
Todo List
A short list
Tools That You shouldn't Need
Inbox
Most digital workflows involve the use of an inbox of some sort where you put all of the unfiltered input and then at a set time you go though and slowly chip away at the list to funnel the entries into their respective spaces and tools.
Anyone who used this flow before knows that it doesn't always work. You get the joy of collecting many cool shiny things from the side of the road, yes, but turning those into actionable, useful, insightful information is where this route may be lacking. The friction for slotting things into the inbox is usually very low, the reward is quite high (see Action Potential for why that matters), you feel productive when you shove the box full of things.
On the other hand taking things and processing them may be more complicated, and it is almost always the case that it is at least slightly harder than adding to the list, then, naturally that means the inbox will grow faster than it shrinks, leading to an infinite backlog.
Alternative
Instead of having an inbox, the process of funneling should be as automated / easy / fast to use as possible.