Here are the big wins for me: Universal Availability I’ve started to see more benefits from working in plain text, all the time. I’ve changed my methods, though my outlook has shifted. md (markdown) files from two or three years ago, but in most cases the pattern until recently has been pretty clear: use those ‘primitive’ formats to do some initial work and note-jotting but, once the serious work begins, copy the whole thing into something like Word. txt files to be honest, my conversion wasn’t an overnight thing – yes, I can find plain text back as far as I have files, and even. Now, simply saying these things isn’t enough to make everyone (or anyone) suddenly slap their forehead and switch to plain. Here’s a markdown file in imdone-core, an open source project I maintain on github.Lately, I’ve had (or created) several opportunities to talk about using plain text file (and markdown syntax) – how great I think it is for writing and (more importantly, really) how perfect it is for making sure your stuff remains ubiquitously compatible and futureproof. imdone listens for changes to files in a directory you choose and parses out your to-dos. We’ve built an app and service called imdone that let’s you manage all your to-dos right in the plain text files you’re already using for notes and work (code, writing, etc.).

There’s quite a bit to keep track of, but like most bootstrapped startups we can’t afford to spend a lot of time managing to-do lists, but there’s no getting around using a to-do list when you’re starting up. So now I’m bootstrapping a SaaS company with some help from my friends at Farwell. So this is when I decided to build LeanNotes. This process took at least 30 minutes every day and there was no hard link back to my notes and I’d have to flip through my notebooks to find context. Now that I could easily pick out the tasks, I’d transfer them to something like remember the milk. At meetings, I’d take my notes, then star or circle different sections and write reminders in the margins. Before imdone I had a notebook for projects and a notebook for developers. I had at least a half dozen projects and 15–20 developers to manage. I started using the note taking part of this flow while serving as Chief Architect and Internet Dev Manager at Lands’ End. Programmers have been doing this for decades. I use plain text for task tracking while I’m in my notes and my fingers don’t even have to leave the keyboard! I call it an “inside out todo list”. That’s where my workflow takes an interesting turn. I love using plain text for just about everything, but what about managing tasks and todo lists? You have to jump into a different tool right? Wrong. I won’t bore you with the details here, just google markdown… after you’re done reading this. If you’re like me you might like a little formatting later.

The important thing is making capture as smooth as possible. My favorite way to capture plain text notes is Atom editor by GitHub, but you can use any text editor. If you’re a productivity nerd/hacker then you should try plain text. There’s nothing like it for staying in a flow state, or taking notes while your in a meeting. I can geek out about plain text all day, but honestly the best thing about working in plain text is not having to lift your fingers from the keyboard while you work. You can read it and edit it almost anywhere on any device. There’s no formatting of margins, fonts, bold, italic, etc., it’s just saved as text. If you work in tech, you’re probably familiar with plain text, but for the uninitiated, plain text is just that, plain.

Plain text workflow