Just to make this easier for #roamcult people who are hearing a lot about Algorithms of Thought and have no idea what people are talking about...

They’re essentially thinking workflows you standardize for yourself to reliably produce an outcome.

For example, I have a page in @RoamResearch for questions I like to ask new prospects. An algorithm of thought might be a repeatable process for coming up with the right questions for that specific prospect.

Alt example, I keep “lenses” for myself. Series of questions related to a concept allowing me to apply it to a new context. Lenses of failure states, feedback loops, expectations, etc.

Each is a small algorithm of thought.

If I’m performing a behavioral audit of a product, I like to pick out the appropriate lenses and use them to inform my analysis. An algorithm of thought might involve me determining which lenses fit the problem (in a repeatable way!) and then answering the questions.

A creativity routine I have is to review my open questions, review related notes, and then go on a walk with http://otter.Ai  running in the background, and then freewrite for 20 min. This reliably puts me into a creatively expansive state. Not sure if this one counts.

For more details, be sure to register for the discussion today with @cortexfutura! https://twitter.com/roamresearch/status/1334299550127955968

From a discussion w/ @brandontoner yesterday (video soonish), looking out for algos of thought encourages a generally good knowledge worker practice of self-awareness of process. This means when you solve a specific problem, you develop an approach to a class of problems.

The easiest approach I generally recommend for developing your own repeatable thinking processes is to observe what you’ve already done and abstract it, rather than try to plan something you haven’t done yet. More on abstracting out here: https://robhaisfield.com/notes/learn-by-going-up-and-down-the-ladder-of-abstraction