I do a lot of remote (i.e. separated by distance) recurring weekly or bi-weekly meetings with colleagues. This is a regular cadence to be able to focus on both near term tactical moves and longer term strategic objectives and what we can do to support each other in those things.

We had been using a combination of Zoom (for voice, sometimes video) and Google Docs (for text based notes, sometimes with images and links). This technology combination is great  at mediating the connection - the sound quality is good with Zoom and the collaborative typing works well in Google Docs.

​However, getting everyone to follow (at least) two links in order to be working together is not ideal. And a shared document is good for dumping information, but requires more work to organize and review anything chronologically.

Now we are using Explain Everything as both the voice-mediator and collaborative workspace. Each meeting, we simply create a new slide. Some times, especially if one regular attendee is absent, we'll record some of the conversation OR create a short 2-3 recap at the end so that there is both a visual and audible summary.

Sometimes, and even after multiple iterations, good work needs to be left behind in order to serve the greater objective. The doodles and text below are versions of things that were liked but simply did not help enough.

"Asked directly about what he does when he needs a breakthrough, designer and typographer Stefan Sagmeister said, 'One trick I use a lot is to think about a problem from a totally different point of view. . . .  I used this technique for the identity we did for a music center in Portugal — Casa da Musica. [The approach and design] came out of the point of view of a car' (Glei, 2013). 
 
Sagmeister traces this thinking tool to the philosopher Edward de Bono, who suggested it as a way to override the brain’s penchant for repetition. Says Sagmeister, 'If you want to come up with a new idea, the first thing you can always do is think of something that you did before or something that you’ve seen before.  So starting with someone, or somewhere, else is just basically a trick to fool the brain out of thinking in repetition' (Glei, 2013)."

There is a lot planned for 2019 so I am restarting this space to share snippets of that work as it happens. On Tuesdays, I'll post some notes, doodles, workflows, use cases, and project ideas that were made in or can be planned around using Explain Everything.

The graphic at the top of this post was made using three (3) simple elements. 

• The doodle-style clipart was added using the Insert menu and choosing clipart and then finding that particular style
• The handwritten-style text was created using two fonts that are available in the product (ReshanMain and ReshanHeader)
• The lined background pattern was added in the slide sorter.