A letter from the author of Personal Mind Organizer
(formerly Personal Mind Manager) to the program users
(April 18th, 2001)
NOTE: If you are no longer a PMO user, you may as well read this letter and have a chance to understand what was not apparent when you tried the program.
Dear
user of Personal Mind Organizer,
I
am writing this letter because I want to tell you why
I have developed PMO, what
does PMO do that other PIM’s do not
and how
you can use it to improve your life and increase your personal power. Also
because I want to establish a more
personal communication with you and propose a possible
cooperation or partnership for further development and distribution of PMO.
And finally, because I want to ask you a few
questions.
This may be too much for a normal human being but, of course, you can skip the topics you are not interested in.
Before I start, I want to tell you that my initial web server has not been working for several weeks. Therefore I have moved all my stuff to a better one. The new URL is: www.cancellieri.org.
Please
visit this site from time to time and check the availability of PMO updates.
Read the version history
to know what has been changed since your last download.
And
now I just hope you have the patience and curiosity to read what I have to say.
PMO
is not a commercial product and is not industrially engineered, especially as
regards looks, packaging, documentation, installation kit and distribution
methods. It is a custom product that I have conceived and developed for myself
in my spare time (I
have a job which has nothing to do with PMO).
It is a precious tool and companion to me, it has helped me to be the person I
am, the person I wanted to be. I keep using it every day and it keeps
helping me to grow further and be as wise and productive as I can be. A few
months ago I wondered whether PMO could be useful to other people as well.
I built a web site, published the program with some documentation and
submitted it to a few shareware sites. I am excited by the idea that I could
help somebody to grow or become more productive, and I would love to
establish a relationship with some of these persons.
What
does PMO do that other PIM’s do not?
I
find difficult to explain what PMO can do. The main reason is that PMO is based
on a new approach, which I did not find in any other software products, and we
can understand something only in as much as we can put it in relationship with
something else we know already. And I did not spend much time writing the program
documentation. The reason is that no one wants to read long manuals or
theory books before using a product. We expect the product to be
self-explaining. (Yes, but how can a product be self-explaining when it does
something totally new?)
This
is a comment I received from a PMO user:
Your
idea of trying to integrate many things into one software is good but don't
forget there are already some very good software that serve some of the purposes
of yours. e.g. music players can better organise CD records whilst
bibliographic softwares can handle the book records better.
My suggestion is design your software with a more specific purpose. Just concentrate on one or a few areas.
I
think it is a reasonable advice and probably worth to be followed; however,
there is a reason why I deliberately preferred to build a single program for so
many different purposes, although not so nicely and richly as could be done by
some specialized products.
Before
developing PMO, I used to write different programs and maintain different
documents for different purposes: to manage contacts and to-do lists, to launch
internet and file links, to keep track of my books, music records, digital
photographs, study notes, to maintain dictionaries of foreign languages and
technical terms, to write down my thoughts and memories, to do “confronting”
exercises, brainstorming and self-analysis.
I found the resulting variety of files and programs disturbing for a number of reasons:
1)
the amount of data files in my hard disk and the effort to keep track of
their purposes and location
2)
the difficulty to make global searches across personal information files
without scanning non personal information files
3)
the need to switch between different programs with different data
management rules, which I find deconcentrating
4)
the difficulty to protect all my confidential data from access by other
people, using a single password
But there was another important reason, of a psychological nature: the physical and logical separation of the dispersed information reflected a similar separation in my mind, while I was trying to achieve the maximum integration and harmonization of my mental contents and did not want any separations between the “mental agents” which populate my mind.
For all above reasons, I decided to develop a single tool to manage all my personal information in a consistent and homogeneous way, independently of their nature and purpose, but with the ability to choose the way each piece of information should be displayed. In fact, all data have the same internal structure and are stored in a single database table, but you can choose, for every category of data, the visual interface more suitable for the particular use of the moment. So data will be displayed as a grid mainly to show search results, as a tag map to insert and update data in a creative, immediate and concise way, as a tree structure to show the logical organization of data, as a calendar to manage timed tasks, as a random map or random items to stimulate your mind with animated material.
What I said about integration and harmonization of mental contents may be unclear, and I am available to go into more detail with those who are interested. For now I will just say that I find beneficial to mental balance and productivity that different parts of our brain communicate with each other as much as possible (not just the left side communicating with the right side). In fact, I believe that simultaneous stimulation of different mental agents causes an information flow between them, which can result in establishing a useful relationship (e.g. a problem solving path) or a conciliation in case of conflicting agents. In other words, mental integration is always good, and good are those tools or methods which help us to achieve it, like PMO.
The
PMO database can function as a model of our mind, and allow us to manipulate our
mind in a limited but effective manner. First, we should build the model by
filling in the database according to what we know and are able to remember about
our life, then we may alter the model and update the database according to our
rational objectives and productive thought. Finally, we can feed the improved,
integrated model back into our mind by exposing ourselves to the modified model
through the mind stimulation functions of PMO.
I
do not expect to be fully understood, as my explanation is too short, lacking of
examples and not scientifically orthodox. I just wanted to tell you that PMO is
build upon a concept of mind integration and mind change. And to me PMO is not
only a productivity tool, is also a mind integrator and a change management
tool. It works for me, I hope it works for you as well.
How
you can use PMO to improve your life and increase your personal power
Following
the approach outlined above, you can use PMO in order to collect all the
information that need to be “managed” that is, all the things you need to
organize, clean up, remember, accept, get familiar with and conciliate with one
another.
Although
with PMO you can store your data in several, specialized databases, for the sake
of mind integration it is good to put all the information in a single database.
Try
to "dump” your mind into the PMO database. You can do this without
worrying too much about the
organization of the information. Thanks to the global search function, you can
find any stored item regardless of the category and collections where you have
put it. Later on you can start organizing the collected material and move items
from one category to another.
Do
you need to find ideas or remember things about a given subject? This is how to
do it: create a category (using a tag map) and name it with the title of your
subject. Insert a couple of items, then launch the corresponding random map. Use
all the animations available. Let the animated screen stimulate your mind.
Sooner or later, new items will come to your mind: insert them (just press the
INS key). After a while you may find a better title for an item: change it (just
right click on the item and choose “rename”). Then you may find an item no
longer necessary: delete it (just right click on the item and choose “delete”).
Go ahead until you feel that you have nothing else to add or to change.
Are
you afraid of something and you know you should not? PMO can help you. The
procedure is the same as above. Chose a title for your category, which
identifies your fear. Then write down all the ideas that come to your mind which
describe the various aspects or elements of your fear. By doing this and
watching at the animated items you have inserted, you should feel a light
pressure on your stomach. It is a good sign. After 5 to 30 minutes of exposure
to this stimulation the pressure should diminish and eventually terminate. Do
this exercise for several days until you will feel no pressure at all. Then your
fear will be overcome. Of course, at each session you can update the items of
your subject, reflecting the ongoing improvement of your vision of the problem.
This is what I call “confronting” session.
CAUTION: if you feel a too strong pressure on your stomach or other alarming symptoms, you should stop the session and resume it on another day. Do not overdo, overstimulation may be counterproductive.
Do
you have a conflict between two or more opposite desires or motivations? Create
a category and name it with a title which recalls the conflict. Then add items
which represent the conflicting elements and their attributes or sub-elements.
Let PMO stimulate your mind with these conflicting items for 5 to 30 minutes,
until new ideas will come to your mind about how to conciliate the conflicting
objects or possible compromises or a strategy to manage them.
Do
you find difficult to concentrate on a given subject that is unpleasant to you,
but you know you should analyze it? PMO will make the task easier.
Both
the random map and the random item windows can be used for mind stimulation
exercises. The random map has a better synoptic effect, the random item has a
better surprise effect, useful when dealing with fears. I suggest you use both
windows for the same topics, alternatively. Also the tag map can be used as a
mind stimulator (using the auto-select option), although it has a lesser impact
than the other two windows.
You
may want to use collection “Improvement” to collect categories which you
want to use for confronting exercises.
A
more personal communication with you
I
am not interested in the typical, impersonal, one-way relationship between
an author and its readers or users, and I don't care about how many copies
my program can sell if I don't know what happens after the user has installed
the program. What matters to me is to know personally (by mail, chat, telephone
or meeting) the people who feel better and more productive thanks
to my work. The fact that the program has been downloaded and a
registration code been asked for is not enough to me. I need to know if you have
decided to use the program, how often you use it, how you use it. I want to help
you understand the product capabilities and the best way to use it. I want to
know how you would like PMO to be changed to meet your needs and preferences.
That is why I have invented this licensing method based on a unique registration
code valid only for one installation: your registration request, with your
personal request code, provides me with your email address, tells me which
version you are using and allows me to monitor your interest in PMO when, after
a major update of the program or at expiration of your registration code, you
should request a new one.
Possible
forms of cooperation and partnership
If
you want, you can cooperate with me as a user, distributor or partner.
As
a user you send me your comments, error reports, suggestions, change requests
and be available to discuss them via email or Internet chat.
As
a distributor you can distribute the product free of charge or upon payment in a
generic shareware distribution context or a psychotherapy or self-improvement
counseling environment. You could even offer training services on how to use PMO
or assist your clients while they are using it.
As
a partner you can participate in the further development of PMO or companion
material such as the demo database and the documentation. I am aware of the fact
that the demo database included in the installation kit is very poor and looks
horrible. It should be improved. Volunteers for this task are most welcome.
Just
let me know if you wish to cooperate, and how.
By
the way, if
you like PMO, please send your vote and comments for it to the shareware sites
where PMO is published . These are currently:
·
CNET
(http://shareware.cnet.com/)
·
ZDNET
(http://www.zdnet.com/)
·
Super
Shareware (http://www.supershareware.com)
Please answer the following questions. Your answers will help me to improve the product and distribution methods.
1)
How did you find PMO?
a)
from shareware site ... (please specify: CNET, ZedNet, Simtel, Super
shareware, other)
b)
from search engine ...(please specify) , looking for ..... (please
specify)
c)
other (please specify)
2)
Are you still using PMO? How long have you been using it? If you quit it, what
was the main reason?
3)
What do you like best in PMO?
4)
What do you like the least in PMO?
5)
What problems have you encountered in the installation and initial runs (if
any)?
6)
Is there anything you would like to change, add or remove in PMO?
Please send your answers to bruno@cancellieri.org.
Thank
you very much for having tried PMO and read this long letter.
Yours
truly,
Bruno
Cancellieri
e-mail: bruno@cancellieri.org
web: www.cancellieri.org
Doing the right thing is more important than doing the thing right (P. Drucker)