Field notes · 2 min read · Keep commitments

Capture the thought before you organize it

You have just left a meeting. There is someone to follow up with, a decision you want to remember, and a concept you did not quite understand. You open your productivity app. Before you can write anything, it asks you to choose a project, a category, a priority and a due date.

The thought was simple. Recording it has become a separate piece of work. This guide is about the habit that avoids that: capture first, sort later. For why a quick capture helps, and what research says, see Your head is not a storage system.

Capture in three sentences

Write what you already have in your head, without choosing a category. A good capture is a few sentences:

We chose the smaller prototype. I need to check security with James. Sarah will send the volumes. I still do not understand reconciliation.

That one paragraph holds a decision, an action, someone else's commitment and something to learn. Do not split it now. Splitting is the later step.

Sort it later, when you have attention

When you return to a capture, ask what each part is. Checking security is an action. Choosing the prototype is a decision. Understanding reconciliation is learning. Your uncertainty might become a reflection. Some of it can stay as context. Leaving something without further action is a fine outcome. The goal is useful memory, not a collection.

Choose one repeatable moment to sort: right after a meeting, at the end of the day, or in your weekly review. David Allen's Getting Things Done separates the two steps in the same way, collecting first and clarifying what each item means afterwards, and the second step only works if you actually do it.

Where Trellis helps, and where it does not

A Trellis capture keeps exactly what you typed. Reviewing it can create any mix of Actions, Notes, Decisions, Reflections and Playbook entries, and nothing is saved until you confirm. It does not decide for you what a capture means. It also does not read your email or calendar, so material from those places has to be pasted in.

Try this week

1. After your next conversation, spend two minutes writing three sentences: what happened, what needs to happen next, and what you are still thinking about.
2. Do not format or categorize it. If it takes more than two minutes, write less.
3. At the end of the day, take five minutes to sort the captures: act, keep, or let go.