Friday, January 4, 2008

Personal Innovation Manager?

Do you know a solution for my needs? Problem description and use-case:
I read websites, books and articles; I watch TV and listen radio; I have conversations and meet interesting people. Because of that I get new ideas.

Now my problem is that I haven't found a suitable method for keeping track with all this. I'd like to have a solution to keep a record of all the items above and also about the ideas that they have generated. Slowly that would grow to a big mind map and I could be able to track ideas down to their roots and find interesting relations: "often when I speak with N.N. I start developing a new application, but when I meet M.M. I start reading business literature and go planning". You got the picture?

I have tried different tools to do this, but haven't found the right solution that is so easy and quick to use that I really could use it in everyday life.  Of course the optimal tool would be web based (because I use multiple computers every day), it must have a mobile interface (either an optimized browser page or a native application)  and I must be able to share ideas and sources with my friends. All this could be quite quickly implemented by a talented web developer and hopefully monetized by ads. 

Still not interested? What about a free community version as above, but also a professional version of the same system with more features? One of these extra features could be a dial-in service that allows an user to have a personal number to call. When user calls to number he can record a voice note and attach that to an idea; then later he can listen audio notes and continue working with those. This would be a very nice feature for people (like me) who get ideas when outside the office and paper is not at hand. Just save Personal Innovation Manager to you speed dial list and you are done - works with iPhone as well, no smartphone needed.  Of course number can be premium priced to keep your business going. 

If you know this kind of a solution, let me know. If you like the idea and setup a service like this, just drop me a message - I'm happy to be a beta tester...

//Harri


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