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I was an avid user of outliner apps myself (Netmanage's ECCO Pro some twenty years ago, later OmniOutliner on my Mac, and recently Emacs/Org or Roam Research), until I realized that trying to distill my ideas down to the core structure, the narrative of what I am trying to tell get's lost. This is something that Jeff Bezos laments about PowerPoint [1]: /quote/ Anytime an Amazon worker has an idea to discuss, they’re asked to structure their pitch in the form of a 4-6 page memo, which the company calls a “narrative.” Well structured, narrative text is what we’re after rather than just text. If someone builds a list of bullet points in word, that would be just as bad as powerpoint. The reason writing a 4 page memo is harder than “writing” a 20 page powerpoint is because the narrative structure of a good memo forces better thought and better understanding of what’s more important than what, and how things are related. Powerpoint-style presentations somehow give permission to gloss over ideas, flatten out any sense of relative importance, and ignore the innerconnectedness of ideas. /unquote/ I value outliners a lot, but when I started writing down my ideas in full sentences, I was forced to create arguments more clearly and explicitly, and that helps me get clearer about my problem domain. [1]: https://www.businessinsider.com.au/jeff-bezos-email-against-... |