Turn scattered notes into structure
Feed in a pile of fragments, get back an outline you can use as is
Below are my scattered notes. Turn them into an outline: 1) start with a one-sentence thesis; 2) split it into 3–5 parts at a logical level, with one sentence each on the question that part answers; 3) file every fragment under the part it belongs to; 4) name the two ideas that actually repeat each other, or contradict each other. [paste your notes]
How to use
Any fragment it cannot file under a part is the part you have not thought through yet.
Good for
- A dozen half-sentence fragments are sitting in your notes app, and you know they belong to the same piece.
- The outline is due tomorrow morning: you need a skeleton before deciding whether the piece is worth writing.
Not for
- Half the fragments are unverified assumptions: once structured, assumptions and facts sit at the same level and look equally solid.
- You have plenty of material and the order is the argument — an incident timeline, a post-mortem: re-sorting by logic breaks the causal chain.
Example
Input
boss wants an owner before launch / can we canary at 10% / last rollback took 40 min / who is on call / alerts too noisy, half false positives
What you get
States the thesis in one line (release pace tied to ownership), splits into four parts (canary policy, rollback time, on-call, alert quality), files each fragment, and flags that a 10% canary conflicts with a 40-minute rollback.
Common mistakes
- Tidying the notes before pasting them — the 'duplicates' you delete are often the joints that hold the fragments together.
- Not telling it who the outline is for (a weekly meeting, a decision review): it defaults to background-analysis-conclusion, which is not the order you need to speak in.
Try tweaking it like this
- Change '3–5 parts' to 'two parts only' when you have five minutes in a meeting.
- Replace 'name the duplicates' with 'name the one claim with no evidence behind it' when the structure is settled and you only want holes.