A few years ago I started using my notebook regularly inspired by Michael Bolton’s article “Exploratory Tester’s Notebook”. Then, as I moved up to lead roles, I got busier with different stuff, and my tester’s notebook turned into a general notebook. I captured meeting notes, my to-do’s, and even fishing plans. It turned into a work, study, and self-organization journal.

Then I read “Becoming a Technical Leader” by Gerald Weinberg and became even more effective with my work/life journal.

I’ve also being using mind maps to read books, take notes, and study. With practice I worked out a “PVP-CAA-LEAP” scheme of learning and structure for mind mapping.

• PVP (Points-Value-Problems) for reading / note taking
• CAA (Comment-Argue-Acknowledge) for reviewing
• LEAP (Learn-Experiment-Apply-Practice) for putting ideas into life

Though I liked to use my notebooks for “CAA-ing”, as well as for jotting down “LEAP” ideas.

Sometimes I also wanted to publish a “book review series” in my blog with all notes and points, my comments, ideas for application and experiences trying them.  But for big and heavy books it’s a too large and complex project to bear. Plus, I haven’t finished mastering many of my table books.

And now I’m reading another Gerald Weinberg’s book – “Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method“. One of my epiphanies so far is the “permission” to choose what to write about and when. As long as it appeals to me I can pick up any idea and write down my thoughts. I already tried last week, and it was a surprisingly positive experience. I wrote the post in a breathe, only taking a break to scroll through my notebook for examples.

The Fieldstone Method allows maintaining multiple streams while keeping up overall steady progress.

As an experiment I begin to publish my notes on multiple subjects from multiple books and other sources of inspiration. They are still connected in some ways. If the experiment works out later I may compose cross-reference pages dedicated to a particular subject or book review.