Finding Your Organizational Style
& Choosing a Notetaking App
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To organize your work digitally, you first have to wade through a myriad of available apps. There are dozens of them to choose from and the number is growing every day. Because of this it can be very helpful to have a way to narrow things down so you can find something that works well for you without an excessive amount of trial and error. Understanding how you collect, process and store data can help you more easily find the apps that are best suited to your organizational style. In an attempt to help people find the best apps for their personality and needs, Tiago Forté, In his book, Building a Second Brain, divides people up into four archetypes. Sometimes just the label may resonate with a person, but more often than not most people will see themselves in the description of one of these archetypes.
- Architects are system-oriented and value structure and customization. They prefer to have the tools to create a unique environment to work within. Often they are not only concerned with functionality such as the ability to automate tasks, but also aesthetics.
- Gardeners tend to be more creative than the others. They also prefer a type of exploration in which connections happen more organically. They tend to collect lots of bits of information before they can see how everything is going to come together in a more of a bottom up approach.
- Librarians focuses on collecting and retrieving information. They often prefer to categorize things into folder or with tags for easy retrieval.
- Students may be a combination of any of the other archetypes, but they are generally focussed more on ease of use and short-term functionality. Perhaps they are working on a smaller project for a class, or perhaps they don't want to be bothered setting up anything too elaborate.
There are many types of apps that you will use to create a second brain or a digital commonplace book, but your home base of operations is most likely going to be a note taking app. This is far from an exhaustive list, but here area a few examples of some popular note taking apps for each of the four archetypes. Once you get a feel for the different types of things that are out there, it will be easier to find what will best work for you.
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