1 year ago, for day 74 by 
Kent de Bruin ⚡
What am I using my note taking system for?
Main use cases ranked from top to bottom:
Tool for ideation ( Creating evergreen interlinked notes)
Overview of current projects, research projects and life. Makes it easier to collect thoughts on these things on the go.
Reference material...
1 year ago, for day 73 by Kent de Bruin ⚡
I am reading ‘How to Take Smart Notes” by Sohnke Ahrens. I am learning a ton about the note taking system I should build. I have over 1750 notes in my current system. Its long overdue for a complete revamp of my current notes.
You need to use a system...
1 year ago, for day 66 by Kent de Bruin ⚡
Over the past few years we have seen Google and Apple fail multiple times with social. Somehow the two biggest companies have struggled with implementing social features into their products. Google’s biggest fail has probably been Google+. It just didn’t work.
Similarly we barely have seen social features with Apple...
1 year ago, for day 61 by Kent de Bruin ⚡
Ideation around outline continued:
3 The idea: Best of both worlds
So what would a structured database look like that can easily transform?
Move easily from structured to freeform
What are the modes of
To restructure
Reshuffle
Divide stuff
Give comments on certain objects
When...
1 year ago, for day 55 by Kent de Bruin ⚡
Notion did something really well. It made the mental model for restructuring data very clear for non technical people. Visualizing data in various ways makes you look at the same stuff in different ways.
That is the beauty of data. You can reshuffle it and use it in different ways....
1 year ago, for day 54 by Kent de Bruin ⚡
Writing is thinking, And this thinking for me happens within tools for thought. My digital notes are a tool for thought, as is iA Writer, Figma and my good old sketchbooks.
Different interfaces give me different perspectives on the information
My current writing/thinking process includes a lot of switching...
1 year ago, for day 53 by Kent de Bruin ⚡
So what makes the difference between good and bad software? It all starts with incentives. Software makers should ask themselves if their incentives are aligned with those of the users. For a lot of the modern day apps, the incentives are fundamentally misaligned.
Business model
Misalignment starts with the...
1 year ago, for day 52 by Kent de Bruin ⚡
*Possible intro. Not sure if I like it. Seems like I need a story to start with. Maybe nice to compare technology progress in a different decade. How did people think about the technological progress around the Second World War? That a lot of our technology is harmful in 2021...
1 year ago, for day 49 by Kent de Bruin ⚡
As the writer and designer Frank Chimero writes: “it must not only look good and feel good, it must also be good.”
I do believe that software can create positive change. However, the ones that we have now have been been built by corporations to capitalize on our attention and...
1 year ago, for day 48 by Kent de Bruin ⚡
Free is complicated - Advertising
When it comes to social apps, free is... well, complicated.
When your business is advertising, your marching orders are to connect more people and maximize the time spent on your app.
have never been a fan of advertising as a business model...
