It is a little surprising to see a handful of recommendation for OneNote. I have never used OneNote before, but will definitely give it a try.
I think one's idea tracking system should cover two parts: fast and slow. The slow part is as you mentioned we should periodically review ideas. For this part, I am almost 100% happy with Github issues/wiki/projects.
For the fast part, like you, I used notebook, IM, Google Keep and a bash script at the same time (whichever that is most handy). I am 90% happy with the process. Given the high frequency of the day I am spending tracking ideas (~10 times per day), I am willing to spend some time to fine tune the practice until I am 99% happy.
The idea I have in mind is to write a IM-like note taking app for iPhone and Mac, which stores plain-text and image in iCloud drive. The app should utilize platform features such as Siri, 3D touch, Mac status bar to enable fastest idea capturing.
This sounds boring to me, but I believe if it is done right, it could be my most efficient zero-effort idea tracking solution on the go. (And review ideas using the plain-text db in iCloud)
I love to write on clean sheets of copy paper. Most notebooks don't lie flat and the ones that do seem to fall apart with travel. I used to have tons of loose copy paper floating around my laptop bag, desk, folders, cabinets, etc... It was getting lost and damaged so I bought an iPad Pro and got used to writing on it. I still prefer paper, but at least I'm not losing my ideas now.
Two years ago I printed everything out (including all the scanned copy paper from older notes). It was about a ream of paper.
I started going through it, it was surprised at how many amazing and prescient thoughts I'd had and later forgotten about. There were thoughts that, combined with newer thoughts, created powerful insights that have benefited my clients and made me more money.
I have not done a review of my notes since then and I sorely need to, but I can say with absolute certainty that periodically reviewing your notes will bring you great value.
I carry a small spiral-bound memo book with me all the time for short-term notes. In the case of random thoughts, it’s generally just a title.
Every morning, I move everything from the memo book into other systems and tear out the used pages. For ideas, this means putting the title at the top of a blank sheet of paper and free writing until I either run out of things to say or reach the bottom of the page.
About once a week, I file all the new notes in a binder sorted by title and put an index card for each one in a Leitner box for reviewing in the future.
When working through reviews, if I find a note interesting it gets promoted all the way to the front section of the box, and otherwise it gets pushed back one, so that its review cycle gets longer. I also use the review as an opportunity to ensure the note is recorded properly in a topical index.
I'll give this a go, again, but be more diligent about taking stuff out of my pockets for laundry. Well, I'll try to be, at least.
But if you keep using OneNote for the next 20 years, I can guarantee that it won't suddenly implode and suddently make all your notes unreadable by anything else.
Also the format is open and documented: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_OneNote#File_format
I had stopped using Apple Notes because the format was a proprietary binary format with no export feature. When I found an app to export as text I went back to using Notes.
That said, I capture critical ideas and project and research info in OneNote, but still use a plain old notebook (using a system I made up myself similar to the old Franklin planner and Bullet Journals) to do much of my ordinary day-to-day notetaking, planning, and task management. The truth is, there is NO electronic "day management" system available today that is even close to as good as what Palm had 20 years ago.
- OneNote lets you nest multiple levels of sections and pages. Is this the tree-structure you're looking for?
- You can add tags and search for tags now in both OneNote for Win10 and Mac. Once you've given it a try, can you tell me if that's the tagging support you're looking for?
- Besides the lack of the radial menus, what else about pen/touch use is painful for you? Is this in OneNote for Win10 or OneNote 2016?
Thanks!
Ultimately what I realised is that it is all useless if I don't have a periodic review session for these ideas.
So, what I am doing these days (not with much success due to lack of discipline) is to have 2 or 3 different sources for such ideas - notebook, onenote, email, bookmarks, Google Keep etc. But spend sometime during the weekend to organise these week's ideas into the correct container. In my case the 'source of truth' is OneNote, so I have several notebooks and sections within each notebook and I file things there.
Even though this is tedious and repetitive I find it to be absolutely necessary if anything good has to come out of those ideas. It also gives me a chance to revisit old ideas and file my new half-baked ideas into a section where it fits in with some other idea.
The other important task is that I need to plan some small action items with these ideas or else it will just accumulate there and cause lot of stress eventually.
P.S. It will be great to hear your thoughts on the tool you plan to create. Like what features you find missing and how you plan to accommodate the user's laziness in your UX