Earlier today I tried a program called ActionOutline (www.actionoutline.com), which was mentioned in the ASP newsgroups. This is a nifty little program that can be used for managing to-do lists and organizing outlines (such as for designing a new product). It's intuitive enough that it only takes about 10 minutes to figure it out, so if you're looking for a program like this, I'd say it's worth a download to check it out. It has a free 14-day trial, and the full version is $35.

I'm experimenting with the trial version now, and if it works out as well as I think it will, I'll buy it. I think a good use for it would be managing game design docs. ActionOutline organizes information in a tree structure just like Windows Explorer organizes files. So on the left side of the screen you can click to expand or collapse nodes, and you can see text associated with the selected node on the right side. You can also include nodes that link to other files on your hard drive, to URLs on the web, or to email addresses. So, for instance, if you were designing a strategy game, you could have a node for each unit with its own text description and design notes, links to concept art and art resources (on your hard drive or on the web), code snippets and ideas for coding the unit, unit stats, and so on. I think this approach beats using a Word document (which I've used in the past), since you can easily navigate through the tree structure to quickly get to any section. It's really easy to jump around if you have new ideas pop into your head that you want to record in the appropriate sections. There's a free downloadable viewer as well, so your team members can view your ActionOutline files w/o having to buy the program.

I've tried a lot of organizer programs, but I've usually found that they've been way too complicated and inflexible. What I like about ActionOutline is that it works how I expect it to, so I can use my mental energy doing the work instead of figuring out the interface.

I don't have any association with the company that makes this program -- I'm just passing on the find. Nice little program....

Sounds intresting, but if you have microsoft word, outlining already provides all those features :).

Yes, you can do some of the same things with Word's outlining feature, but after having tried both, I prefer ActionOutline hands down. Sometimes a small shareware program just works better for certain tasks than a bloated multi-purpose program. I could use Word for journaling as well, but I much prefer David RM's The Journal (http://www.davidrm.com), which is better suited to that specific task.

Notebook and pencil works for me. Luddite I know.

@ Steve : Downloading... seems promising :)

@ Anthony Flack : welcome mate :)

@ Lerc : your Newzlander pal is here ;)

There are two programs you might want to check out before registering ActionOutline.

KeyNote (free):
http://www.tranglos.com/free/keynote.html

TexNotes ($34.95 US):
http://www.gemx.com/texnotes.php

I've been using KeyNote for a few months and really like it. It's excellent for keeping ideas organized. It doesn't have the commercial polish you might find in some programs, but it's stable, well thought out and stuffed with features. It's also OpenSource.

TexNotes is commercial but has some features that KeyNote doesn't (although KeyNote has some that TexNotes doesn't). TexNotes supports tables with modification, images etc.

After using the KeyNote/TexNotes style of idea management I would never go back to the plain word processor method of keeping notes, or to plain paper alone. Most of the time I scratch down ideas in a small notebook. Once I have a certain number of notes I input them into KeyNote and have a nicely organized, easily searched, cross-linkable database of ideas. :)

-Pat

Another option is to run a local wiki. I use a small little stand-alone wiki written in C++ called WikiServer (http://www.tinyted.net/eddie/wiki/). If you're familiar with wikis then you'll know how useful they are for storing and cross-referencing information, links, images, etc. The source is included as well, so you can adapt it to your needs.

Originally posted by Anthony Flack
Notebook and pencil works for me. Luddite I know. Well, of course you are. You still fashion your sprites out of clay :D

LOL! It's true, now you've pointed it out to me... I guess I AM a luddite! Hey, seems to be lots of blitzers here!

Originally posted by Dexterity
Earlier today I tried a program called ActionOutline (www.actionoutline.com), which was mentioned in the ASP newsgroups.

I'm pretty happy with Word, but I'm going to have a look. It may prove to be worth it with the multiple number of documents and contracts I've written for just one project.

FYI I did end up buying this program after just a few days of using the trial version. They offered a 30% discount for ASP members, so it was only $24.50. I still like this one better than all the alternatives mentioned in this thread, mainly because it's extremely simple, fast, and intuitive to use.