10 years of notebooks

For those who have worked with me, you will know that I usually carry two notebooks with me: a quarto sized paper notebook, and a Thinkpad. They are about the same width-length dimensions.

The paper notebook is my default interactive meeting pad. It lets me scribble freeform notes and draw diagrams during meetings as part of the process of the meeting. I find conversation-enabled doodling to be an effective tool to help loosen thinking and promote mutual understanding.

Here’s what 10 years worth of notebooks look like, give or take a couple that have been sadly lost along the way:

These are/were an intimate part of my working life, a form of external/expanded memory even. That’s why I keep them around.

My next project is to determine if it is feasible to replace paper notebooks completely with a tablet PC. That way, my freeform notes can be more directly associated with every project. And it means I get to carry only one notebook around.

Has anyone done this transition? I’d appreciate any insights and observations.

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