Get your notes in one place

OneNote, Evernote, Google Keep, Apple Note. All note taking software. It’s a simple thing, taking notes. Do we really need dedicated software to do it?

Not really. A paper notepad works pretty well. It doesn’t go flat. It doesn’t crash. It doesn’t need an update every time you open it. However, it’s also hard to share. It doesn’t know what day of the week it is. It gets wet, lost, torn or anything really other than getting back to your desk.

Now a digital notepad is nothing new, notepad.exe came with Windows 1.0 in 1985. However, even notepad.exe notes, while avoiding getting wet or torn, still get lost…

Now we have the Internet, and in recent times, the cloud. Now notes can be saved and synced forever, across multiple platforms, accessed by multiple users. Now there’s serious reasons to keep you notes in software instead of in a book.

I work in the UX and design team. Notorious for poor structure, one look at the folders in the Design share to really hammer the point home. I’ve recently got them into OneNote. I like OneNote, its integration with Microsoft is really useful in a Microsoft business. I know there’s plenty of Evernote diehards out there and trust me, Evernote is where I keep my personal notes.

OneNote however plugs nicely into Microsoft accounts, which plug nicely into Windows 8. We’ve got all out notes in there now. I can capture notes in client kickoff meetings that the designers can review at a later date. I copy revision items in there with checkboxes to manage feedback with me and the team. It’s shaping up to replace the beautifully bound Wiliam notepads we bind.

Now, if only OneNote had Kanban lists…