Doing the research and populating the deck it’s not a linear process, and I didn’t intend it to be. Even when I’m concentrating on one part I’ll fall over an article, find a nice example, or get an idea, and just as much as my thoughts jump from one to the other, as do I jump from one section of the deck to the next.
This dipping in and out is to a large extent related to the constant readiness of information. Twitter is one of my primary channels for work related news and my pattern for using it follows the typical cycles that we are now seeing for when mobiles are being used the most. Only during these, my Twitter peak times, I’m mostly accessing the service via my iPad or computer rather than mobile.
Mornings, lunch time and evenings are when I have time to read articles and as a result my use of twitter throughout the day mainly consists of me quickly looking through tweets and favouriting the ones that I find interesting (that’s why my favourite count is so high). But, a lot of the tweets I favourite inspire me in one way or another. I get an idea for a feature or approach, think of some research I should do, a non-direct competitor to check out, an aspect to consider etc. Often I’m not able to do anything with it at that point in time other than make a note, mental or scribble. So, instead I go back over it when I get home and that’s another reason for why this research is very non-linear.
With the structure of my research deck set up I know where each piece needs to go so dipping in an out has turned into a pleasant experience of little by little watching each section grow and the pieces falling into place.
Tomorrow – Day 011 | To blog or not to blog
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