More from the Ask Tom mailbag.

Question

Everyday I get more and more information through reading and talking to people, observation etc. My question is, “How do I organize the information I have identified as useful?”

I currently use an Excel file and filters in the worksheets to do it but is there a better way?

Response

Any tools that help you will work, whether they are spreadsheet tools, database tools, or even searchable documents.

First consideration is to determine if the tool is accessible or part of your daily discipline to record the things you want to remember or have access to later.

Second consideration is the ability to quickly search to find what you are looking for. Even my blog works well for this. It is a series of thoughts, set in categories. I can search a specific category if I am looking for something. Even more powerful is the actual search tool built into the blog that lets me search for a key word or phrase.

Finally, you will find that you use different tools for different things. I keep lists in my Palm Pilot for books I want to buy. That way, when I get to the bookstore, my list is always with me. For ideas that I might want to organize into workshops, I find that PowerPoint is very helpful. For very complex ideas, I actually create websites to help me understand the dependencies and linking between ideas and processes. It helps me understand the logic of ideas and what impact one idea may have on another idea.

One tool that we have found very helpful is a tool called a wiki. You can see how it has been used as a collaborative tool by visiting the following link:

www.wikipedia.org. This actually allows other people to help piece ideas together. -TF

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