The wee black book all battered and torn with its pages no longer bound to it’s cover, to say its seen better days would be putting it lightly! Yet, this little investment combined with a cheap ink pen has for me been the bargain of the past year, and I truly mean that!
So what is it? Why should you care? Well it’s exactly as the post title states, a little black book that is small enough to fit in your pocket. One that you could pull out at any moment and take note of that little idea you had that you know you’ll forget about if you don’t find some way to remember it quickly.
I often find myself thinking about ways to improve things, or topics I want to blog about, or even just having a debate with myself (in my head) on anything (I’m not troubled, I swear!). Now and again, probably a few times a week I’ll have a fantastic idea that I really need to take note of, or I might have even thought about a whole blog post and need to jot down a quick high level overview about it. The wee black book is my friend, it’s always there for me in times of need! Sometimes I let it sleep at the side of my bed, or take it for a wee run in the car, I’ll even occasionally wake it up during the night and disturb it by writing on it’s wee pages (poor thing).
This works wonders for me! I’d often thought about buying something to take notes of my ideas; then quickly forgot about it! When I finally did remember to buy something it quickly paid its cost a hundred times over and brought to life many a great idea which could have been lost, never to be found again.
Next time why not take note of your ideas? Get yourself your own wee black book from Glasgow, or even just a small one from anywhere else 
No related posts.
Does it run Android or iOS?
That’s the power of the wee black book, it could be anything you want it to be. Taking notes on a phone app might work for some, I find it takes a little longer and I’m less inclined to note down as much.
Everything from my book that I decide to follow up on always ends up in my to-do list mind map or implemented right away.
And don’t forget that you can draw very easy in a little black book as well.
Thanks for the reminder. I actually bought a wee black book the other week (a moleskine no less – blame Bach and Bolton for that one – save the moles!).
The question here is, how ‘wee’ is your wee black book. Pocket size?
Ah good to hear
It took me about two years to remember to buy one, but it has been my faithful friend ever since.
To answer your question, it’s pretty wee. Wee enough that I can squeeze it into my pocket. The pen needs to go in the other pocket though
A Mr Simon Morley mentioned he had a moleskine as well on Twitter when I posted this blog posts link. I wonder if he took that on the advice of Bach and Bolton? I honestly can’t recall them mentioning it; I assume it was on the Rapid Software Testing course?
Actually, no. The two places I recall reading about their moleskine credentials were in fact:
1. James Bach’s Secrets of a Buccanneer Scholar book (and a meer sliver off your £50 voucher should you be so inclined to purchase)
2. Michael Bolton’s An Exploratory Tester’s Notebook article. Page 3 & 4…
I have had a little black book for years. I use it for everything from jotting random ideas, to collecting people’s details at networking events.
When my current one runs out, I am tempted to get a moleskine. Not because of Bach/Bolton, but because of Hemmingway.
@Darren – I like the idea of a ToDo list mindmap. I’m only just getting into mindmaps so having a ToDo list will get me more comfortable with them, perhaps.
Maybe I should note that down…
A ToDo list would certainly be a good start. If you take a small feature that you don’t know much about in your workplace and write some test cases on it using a mind map, I’m sure you’d appreciate their value even more.
I’ve got a post in the pipe line, about test case design using mind maps, as soon as I have some free time I’ll get that written. I’m planning to show different approaches you can use to mapping test cases; hopefully some will find it useful.
Darren – I started using a stack of 3×5 notepad sheets with a clip years ago when I worked in a secure facility that did not allow electronics and I have kept it ever since.
A couple of years ago, I ran across a neat moleskin calendar cover at an office store with pockets. I bought it, threw away the calendar, and started using the cover with my stack of notepad sheets. A few months ago, I ran across an article that described that combo as a “hipster PDA”.
Thanks
Jeff
Sounds like an interesting place
According to Google the Hipster PDA seems quite popular! Perhaps I’m just not in with the lingo, I also had never heard of such a thing