
What is this?
Stack and Queue is a note-taking system that is focused on quick capture of basic ideas. The review stage of the notes is considered a secondary step. With this system, you can quickly capture notes as they come to you, and then review those notes later on.
Notes are stored in two different structures. The stack is first-in, last-out. The most recent note you add to the stack is the first one to be reviewed. Meanwhile, the queue is first-in, first out. The oldest note you put in is first to be reviewed.
Using these two structures for storing your notes allows flexibility with note taking, while still imposing some structure to how they are managed.
What's your differentiator?
Stack and Queue is focused on quick-capture of ideas. No formatting, no features. Just capture and go.
The motivation is that I was regularly sending emails like "buy milk" to myself, as my email program was the fastest way to add a note.
Strangely, the "note-taking" apps I tried required many button presses to get into the note-taking, or had some weird topic structure to them. This was good for when you are sitting down and making detailed notes for yourself, but in the "heat of the moment", I just want to get the idea down, and then know I can forget about it.
How do I use it?
You can use it however you like, but the general workflow I use is like this:
- Click "Capture" and enter a note.
- If the note is important and timely, add it to the "Stack".
- If the note is not important and timely, add it to the "Queue"
- Review your notes regularly and action or move them to your TODO list
If using this workflow, try to keep the number of notes in the stack to a minimum before reviewing. It is designed to be timely, so you should be reviewing the stack daily or more regularly.
Items in the queue are less important, so reviewing these notes is less important and done less regularly.
Can you add feature X?
Maybe! Note that there is a tiny development team (me, and not always), so features will be slow and steady.
The current plan is to keep the feature set small, as there are plenty of knowledge management systems out there for longer-term storage. The problem that Stack and Queue solves is one of quick capture, not long-term management. I like to be able to quickly pick up my phone, write the note, and move on with my day. Later, I come back and review the notes and see what needs actioning.
What support do you offer?
At this stage, none. See below.
Can I give you money for more features or support?
Not yet, but I'm planning premium features for later. If you just want to just give me money though, get in touch!
Can you read my notes?
At this stage, yes I can. The notes are stored in plain text in the database, so please don't put anything confidential in there. Securing notes is a planned feature, but likely won't be done for a while.