Computers are all very well but when there’s some serious thinking to be done, A3 paper and a pen are the things I reach for first. The only computing tools that help at this stage are outliners (like OmniOutliner and Dave Winer’s incomparable More 3.0 of blessed memory), Mind-mapping software (like Novamind), the Stickies (virtual post-it notes) program that comes with OS X and a very nice journal program called Journler.

Photographed in my university office during a particularly baffling day recently.